Teardrop
by shadow243ali
Summary: After Mickey leaves, all Rose seems to be doing is pushing the Doctor away when all he wants to do is help. Will he be able to stop her from pushing him away completely or will his concern for her help bring them closer together?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: A new story. Yes, I know I shouldn't be writing new stories. I'm already have too many multi-chapter stories to write for already but the idea came to mind and I couldn't stop myself...Shame on me. I have no control.**

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Rose could hear the footsteps off the grating. It wasn't a surprise when she found the owner of those footsteps leaning down and wiggling under the grating to lie down beside her.

"Nice hiding place," he muttered, breaking the silence that seemed to push them away from each other. It had been like this for the last few days. He would always be trying to reach out and she would always be trying to push him away.

"It should be. It's yours." Her voice came out more venomous than she had intended. Maybe she was bitter but she had just lost one of her best friends and the Doctor had been busy ignoring her feelings even before he left. Still mourning over Madame de Pompadour - ignoring the person who was there, the person who just wanted to hold his hand, the person who wanted to help him through his pain but was shut out - so maybe she had a right to feel a little bitter.

"Rose…" She knew he was about to retort something about Time Lords not having places to hide but any response he could have made trailed away into nothing. He didn't have the energy for it.

He was staring at her; she could feel his gaze upon her. It made a flush rise up her cheeks and she was grateful it was darker under here. She didn't think he would say anything about it even if he could see it clearly.

"What?"

"Rose…" His voice sounded different, almost broken, "Look at me…"

She turned her head and found herself staring into his deep brown eyes. He was closer to her than he had ever been before and she was surprised at how cramped it was under here.

Her breath caught in her throat as she once again said, "What?"

"I'm sorry…" And she could see in that moment that he really meant it, "I'm sorry for everything."

His truthfulness broke her and a tear slipped out of her eye. His hand reached up, his thumb tracing under her eye, wiping all remnants of that stray tear away. She closed her eye for a moment, composing herself and when she opened them he was still staring at her with a look that made her want to run into his arms and make him take the pain away, but she didn't want to see that look.

Not from him. Not now.

Her throat felt constricted. She needed to get out. She needed to get away from him. She didn't want to break down. He was so close; too close, "I- I need to go."

With that she got up and left, leaving a very confused Time Lord behind.

To be continued...


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I'm keeping the chapters short in this so I hope you don't mind but to be fair, the updates will probably be up quicker because of them being shorter. Thanks to everyone so far who has reviewed...that's all I've got to say. Now on with the story! :)**

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"Rose?" he knocked again on the door and received no response, "Rose, please open the door."

He was greeted with only silence. Feeling deflated, he leaned against the door, letting his ear listen against it.

Silence.

There was only silence and even someone who didn't want him there, couldn't be completely silent so he presumed she must have been hiding somewhere else.

It was she seemed to do these days.

And although he didn't want to admit it, he missed her.

Missed holding her hand, hearing her laugh, seeing her smile. He had hoped that the trip back to her mother's would have helped but all it seemed to do was push them further away.

He knew she was hurting. He knew she blamed him for Mickey leaving; she had to have been otherwise why else would she be hiding from him? He also knew she blamed herself and he wouldn't let her do that. Even if she didn't want him there, he wouldn't let her blame herself.

He lifted himself off of the door and almost turned away until a thought truck him. Why should he go to her when she would come to him?

His hand gripped the handle of the door, and he wondered should he do it. He ignored that thought and pushed open the door, closing it softly behind him.

He looked around at her cluttered room. Her clothes were all over the floor and it brought a smile to his face. She was such a human - a very messy human.

He looked over at her unmade bed. Should he? He looked around, seeing nowhere else to sit decided he should. He might as well. He kicked off his shoes, loosened his tie before shrugged out of his jacket, hanging it at the end of the bed. Might as well be comfortable if he was going to wait for her.

Leaning down on her bed, he couldn't help but think how comfortable it was. He leaned back into the pillow closing his eyes.

He would wait for her here. He wouldn't fall asleep. He was a Time Lord. He didn't need sleep, not much at least. He would just be closing his eyes for a minute. That was all. He wouldn't fall…

Asleep.

The next sound to fill the room was the comfortable light snores of a sleeping Time Lord as the Doctor fell into a peaceful slumber.

To be continued...


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I wasn't going to put this up today. I was going to wait until tomorrow but I am so bored at the moment that I'm going to put it up. I've got another hour of waiting to get collected and I've been here for four hours already...so bored. Anyway here's the next chapter. Two in one day...I better get a few reviews because of this... Hint Hint**

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Rose wandered through the corridors, no destination in mind. He hadn't returned to her room, knowing it would be the first place the Doctor would look for her so she had instead decided to look around the place.

She had intended to take Mickey on a tour of the place but she had been too worried about the Doctor, the last time he had asked her to.

She realised she had taken Mickey for granted. They had grown together, as best friends. He had been a few years older but they had always gotten on so it wasn't a surprise to any of her other mates when she had started dating him. She had slipped into a routine with him and for a while it was nice. It was safe. It was comfortable.

That was until she had met the Doctor and everything changed. And those comfortable safe things about life had been shown to be what they always were to her…

Boring!

Yet she missed Mickey. When she had travelled with the Doctor, before Mickey had come on board, she had not missed him. She had never thought about him. Never cared about what he was doing. Never gave one iota of attention – proper attention – to him when they were in the same room because most of the time, the Doctor was in the same room.

She had simply forgotten to care anymore about the boyfriend she had left behind. And that was the worst thing. She wished she had spent time become friends with him again but she had been too wrapped up in this life, in the aliens, in the Doctor.

It hadn't been fair on Mickey. No wonder he had left.

--

Rose stifled a yawn. She looked down at her watch and saw the time to be 3 AM. She didn't know why she carried a watch. When you live on a time machine, which can go anywhere or anywhen, then keeping time soon stops being important.

She should go to bed. The Doctor would have probably gone back to the console room, too bored from searching for her. He wouldn't bother her anyway, not if she was too tired. He would leave any conversations until morning and she could easily avoid having to discuss the subject of Mickey.

Rose turned a corner, her eyes resting upon a familiar door. Her feet seemed to drag as she made the last few steps, exhaustion finally setting in.

Opening the door, Rose was greeted with the most adorable sight she had ever seen. The Doctor was sound asleep in her bed; the blankets were half hanging up around him. His hair was a mess, his tie was askew, and the hand resting on the pillow –her pillow – scratched against the piece of hair currently resting awkwardly upon his nose.

Rose smiled, forgetting the fact she had been avoiding him. She walked over, pulled back the covers and slid into the bed.

The Doctor murmured in his sleep, and nudged back in an attempt to get more comfortable.

Exhaustion rested heavily on Rose's eyelids but just as she fell into slumber, she felt the Doctor's arm draw around her waist bringing her closer. Rose smiled her first proper smile in ages as sleep finally won over.

To be continued...

**AN: Hello me again. Hope you liked it. I was thinking of doing a Doctor dream sequence. Should I do it or should I just skip and have him wake up and realise that he not only fell asleep but Rose is there too? Your choice... :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Slightly longer chapter for you. So I dropped the Doctor dream sequence and decided to put in a Rose one so you know...enjoy and all that. Oh and thanks to everyone who has reviewed or story alerted me so far on this story. You guys are awesome.**

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The Doctor could not help but think that something was different as he woke up. It was warmer and he appeared to have a blanket wrapped around him, although he didn't remember placing one there.

He also noticed that someone was in bed beside him. And his arm appeared to be wrapped around someone's stomach, not that he minded of course. Surprised, maybe but in no way bothered by the fact.

He also knew that person could only be Rose and when he opened his eyes he found himself smiling at the sight of her. She was breathing deep even breaths, and she had not looked so peaceful in days.

He wondered when she had come in, why had she decided to sleep in the same bed as him when she had ever right to push him out of her bed after he had inadvertently fallen asleep, and why had she looked so peaceful in his arms after days of pushing him away.

At that moment he didn't care, only focused on the fact she was in them. She wasn't pushing him away and he hadn't felt this good in weeks.

A stray hair had fallen over her eyes and he reached down, hoping not to awake her from her slumbers, and gently pushed it behind her ear. She mumbled something he could not make out but only turned and leaned against his chest, her hand falling haphazardly on his chest, on the spot above one of his hearts.

He laid his head back down on the pillow, and contented himself with watching her sleep.

--

"Doctor!" Rose shouted but received no answer, the flame of the fireplace flickered as his converse clad trainers came into view, "Doctor!"

"Do you hear something?" she heard him mutter and just as she was about to call his name once more, another pair of feet clattered closer. The noise came from a pair of high heels. Obscured from view by a large and detailed dress and Rose knew instantly who it was, despite how much it broke her heart.

"Oh my dear Doctor, you focus too much on the murmurings of the dark," Roe crouched lower, to get a better view. Reinette's hand rested on the Doctor's cheek, and Rose bit back jealousy at the fact, the Doctor was transfixed by Madame de Pompadour. He never looked at her like that, "Why not focus on the voices in the light, the people in front of you instead?"

"I suppose you're right. Although I swear I could have heard-" Rose looked away at the sight of Reinette kissing him.

It was too much. This wasn't right. It couldn't be…but he had left her. He had just left her with no way back. All for Reinette…

"Doctor!" she shouted, desperate to be heard, "Doctor, don't leave me!"

Rose's eyes widened as the flames began to flicker. The light was going out. He was disappearing from view. He couldn't leave her here…

"Doctor!"

"There's that noise again, can't you hear it?" Rose smiled, hope resurfacing. He had heard her.

"Oh, ignore it."

They walked away hand in hand, ignoring her shouts, ignoring her existence as the flames flickered out leaving her alone in the dark.

"Doctor…"

--

"Doctor!" Rose sat up on her bed, startling the Doctor.

"What is it? What's wrong?" The Doctor sat up beside and finally noticed the tears trickling down her face, "Oh come here…"

He was about to wrap his arms around her in comfort. It was practically instinct to him these days but for the first time, she pushed him away before he even had the chance.

The Doctor frowned as he watched her leave the room, tears still spilling down her face,

No, he wouldn't let her do this and before he knew it he was getting up and going after her, "Rose!"

"Doctor, just leave me alone!"

"No!" She turned around, confused at his reaction, "No, I'm not leaving you alone. I'm going to keep following you until you tell me what's wrong. You keep pushing me away and-"

"And what? After you came back…after you saved Reinette, you wouldn't tell me what happened. You just pushed me away and-"

"I didn't push you away!" he interjected, raising his hand in emphasis.

"Yes you did! I kept trying to help you and I get the picture. I'm not as good as her. I get it. I know you wanted her here and I know something must have happened but you never told me what it was so I-

"Rose…"

"No, I don't want to talk to you. I just…don't."

He watched her turn her back on him again and suddenly found himself shouting out, "You're better than her."

"What?" Rose spun on her heels and the Doctor suddenly found himself speechless.

"I, uh…I said you're better than her…Reinette, I mean." He walked a few steps toward her and took her hand, glad with the fact she didn't let go, and "Reinette was accomplished, brilliant even. She really was but you…" His voice trailed away for a second, as he gave her a smile, "You are so much better and you mean so much more to me than I think you ever realise. Rose Tyler you are fantastic. You are absolutely fantastic. Your funny, intelligent, courageous and I-"

He stopped abruptly realising what he was about to say.

She looked up at him hopefully but when he didn't continue, Rose couldn't help but feel disappointed. He was only saying this to make her feel better and she didn't want to hear it. She didn't want him to lie to make her feel better. Not when all she had were images of him kissing Reinette running through her mind.

She let go of his hand, ignoring the feeling that came from the loss of contact before she muttered, "I need to be on my own…"

She turned and walked away, leaving the Doctor whispering words she didn't hear to an empty hallway.

"And I love that about you…"

To be continued...

**AN: I can't believe I just wrote that. Sorry if you may be wondering why. I never write stuff this...actually, I don't usually write stuff mentioning the word love so this is a strange experience for me. I'll get used to it...probably.**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Ok, I'm really glad with the response people are giving me with this story. i never expected people to like it so much since I never really write stuff like this much but it seems you do like it so here's another chapter for you. will thewy be able to work things out?**

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Rose walked into the console room and saw the Doctor sitting on the ground, sonic screwdriver clenched in his teeth as his hands were busy attempting to work between wires. She watched him for a moment as he occasionally took the screwdriver and held it between some wires.

She never knew what he was doing half the time but sometimes she would like to watch. He never noticed her at times like these, not when she was standing by the doorway.

She walked in, deciding that avoiding him was not the best thing to do. He looked up as she walked past but instantly returned his eyes to the job at hand. Sitting down, she returned to watching him again, expecting him to say something but he didn't.

"Doctor…"

"He mumbled something, sonic screwdriver still stuck in his teeth and she presumed it mean something along the lines of, "What?" Either that or, "Mruphhhmp!" She decided to guess it was the former option.

"Are we going somewhere?"

He looked up at her, his head shaking from side to side. He dropped the sonic screwdriver and quietly whispered, "No…"

Rose sighed as she got up. He didn't look up at her as she walked by but as she turned to look back at him, she could have sworn his eyes had quickly darted downwards. Rose gave him one last look before she walked away.

He was being so quiet. They had barely spoken since she had argued with him. She had been avoiding him but she had expected him to try and talk to her again. He didn't. He left her alone and she couldn't help but think that maybe he didn't want her here at all.

--

He wasn't sure how to act around her so he decided that busying himself with fixing the Tardis was a better use of his time. Maybe she would cheer up if he left her alone. He seemed to be the problem otherwise why would she be avoiding him?

After their argument he couldn't help but feel guilty. He thought she had gotten past Reinette. He had came back. He had always intended to come back…it just might have taken him a few hundred years. Although he had never checked the co-ordinates of the spaceship…so it might have been hard but he wouldn't have left her. Why couldn't she see that?

He just wished she would talk to him…properly. He hadn't heard from her in a while. He should check on her Just to see if she was alright. It wasn't him trying to butt in. She couldn't be annoyed at him if he asked her if she was hungry…or would she?

Well, he wouldn't want her to starve so he had to ask her. He walked up the corridor, remembering the argument they had had on that exact spot only days earlier.

Three days to be exact. Three days of silence. Three days of fixing the Tardis. Three days hoping she would be his Rose again. The Rose who held his hand and helped him fight the bad aliens from overtaking the world with a smile on her face.

He couldn't ignore the feeling in the pit of stomach telling him one cold hard fact - He missed her.

He stood in front of her door. His hand rose in a fist, preparing to knock, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

He sighed, leaning his forehead against the door. Maybe he should just give up trying…

His brain had already decided for him. He wouldn't knock, despite how much he wanted to. He lowered his hand to his side and turned around leaning completely against her door, feeling dejected.

What had happened to them? They were happy travelling through time and space together. Sure Mickey had left, but they had been great before he came along with them so why did Mickey leaving have such a big effect on the way they were around each other.

The Doctor closed his eyes, a headache beginning to form. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to relieve it just as the door he was leaning against opened.

The first sensation he felt was falling momentarily until he suddenly felt a sharp pain in the back of his head as he fell on the hard floor of Rose's room. His head thwacked against the ground and he could swear he heard the cracking of bone, but maybe he was just imagining it. At least he hoped he was imagining it.

He looked straight ahead, seeing only the ceiling until Rose filled his vision and he instantly smiled, "Hi…"

Her eyes widened at the sight of him, "What the bloody hell were you doing? Are you alright?"

He didn't want to explain what he had just been doing. She would probably make fun of him or shout at him and he didn't thin his head could take either at the moment. For the second question he was pretty sure he wasn't alright but only replied, "Yeah…"

She didn't take her eyes off of him, studying his movements. He looked anything but alright but she knew he wouldn't say it, "So are you going to get off my bedroom floor anytime soon?"

"I think I'll just stay here for a while."

"Right, that's it. I'm checking you over." She took his hand and dragged him up. He winced at the movement and couldn't help but feel nauseous, but he got up all the same. He didn't want her to hurt herself trying to drag him around.

He was grateful that the med-bay was close by. Maybe he had a concussion. The nausea, the headache, the slight cracking sound when his skull collided with the ground, the slightly double vision…they were all symptoms of concussion.

"Sit down." Rose ordered, and he immediately obeyed. She handed him an ice pack and he put it against the throbbing pain on the back of his head. It stung at first but it was soon replaced by the relieving coldness the ice pack provided.

Rose held a device he recognised instantly in his hand. It was the trustworthy scanner he had grown accustomed to using everytime wither of them was injured. She held it over his face and he heard the beeping sound indicating it weas finished.

"So will I survive?" He gave a weak smile.

"You've got a concussion."

"I knew it! I thought I had a concussion and my head still hurts and me shouting that out isn't really helping, is it?"

Rose shook her head, a small grin on her face, as she mouthed 'no'. She turned away from him and picked up something before she went behind him and removed the ice pack. He couldn't help but think that this was the closest they had been to each other in days.

"You're bleeding." She said, noticing the blood on the ice pack.

"It's fine. It'll heal up within the hour. Just use the anti-"

"The anti-septic regenerative healing magic cream stuff. Yes, I know that's not its proper name and I'm already ahead of you." Her fingers lightly dabbed cream into the small wound on the back of his head. He gasped slightly in pain, "Oh stop complaining!"

"But it hurts…" He groaned, his face scrunched up in pain.

"You're worse than Mickey. He scraped his knee on-" She stopped abruptly and the Doctor could hear the sob she was trying to hold back. He turned, ignoring the stinging pain in his head and watched her.

He didn't dare try and hug her again. She was more likely to run away again but when he saw a single tear slip down her face, he couldn't hold back anymore and he wrapped his arms around her.

"Look, I know you miss him-"

"Doctor, can we go somewhere?" she interupted him, "Just someplace without monsters and danger. Just you and me in some place...relaxing. I just want to go somewhere and forget."

He nodded his head, instantly regretting the action; "Yeah…sure we can go somewhere nice and relaxing."

"Thank you…"

He smiled, finally glad that she was with him. Any pain in his head was definitely worth having Rose talk to him. And he would do it again in an instant. Now all he had to do was go somewhere that would make her forget. That was easy enough. The hard part was finding a place where monsters wouldn't turn up.

How was he meant to do that when all trouble seemed to do was follow them around?

To be continued...

**AN: I have noticed I have a fondness of hurting the Doctor...I mean I can't seem to go one story without ending up injuring the Doctor in some way but to be fair, a concussion bringing them back together (or will it?) is much quicker than having them moping around like they were. I wonder where I shall take them. Or if I shall get anymore reviews? (Sorry that was a really obvious hint). Review if you want to...**


	6. Chapter 6

"This is beautiful…" she turned to him, a smile lighting up her face, "Thank you."

He felt ecstatic to see her smile again. It made him feel like they were that one step closer to being back to normal. He didn't even bother with the fact his head was killing him. As long as she was happy then it never would matter.

He was glad she wanted them to visit a quiet relaxing planet together. She hadn't said she wanted to be on her own once they had set foot outside the Tardis. She had just taken his hand, as they walked under the purple sky.

The purple sky was scattered between pink swirls that seemed to be sprinkled with silver. She called it beautiful, he thought it was nothing compared to her.

A simple human being more beautiful than any unfamiliar sky, maybe it was times like these where he should be paying more attention to what was around him rather than focusing on the details on her face.

"Do you like it?"

The words came out of his mouth, and it surprised even him that he had said it. He didn't mind though when she looked up at him, flashed her sparkling white teeth and moved a little closer, almost whispering with delight, "I love it!"

He tightened his grip around her hand, as he began to walk forward. If she loved this, then she would love the waterfall nearby. He knew he had landed in the right spot. It was nearby; he could hear the trickling of water in the distance.

"Where are we going?"

He turned and grinned at her, "You'll see."

She didn't ask anymore questions; just walked with him, holding his hand. She would travel to the end of the universe with him, without asking questions. He would do the same. As long as they were together then it wouldn't matter where they were, he would be content by just having her by his side.

The gasp she let out at the sight of the waterfall was worth the walk. It made his head spin, but it was worth it. Concussion were hell to deal with it, but Rose was in heaven as far as she was concerned.

He felt the loss of contact when she let go of his hand to sit down on a rock by the pool. The fuchsia water trickled, making the rocks in the sunken depth of the pool twinkle like diamonds. She dipped her feet in, after taking off her shoes and socks.

He decided to do the same, when he heard her laugh at the fish swimming lightly around her feet. The sensation was weird, to say the least. Even he wasn't used to fish flapping their fins at your feet. One thing he could say though was that it tickled – definitely tickled.

He looked at her, laughing. She was happy and that was what was important. Should he bring up Mickey? Maybe this was the perfect time to ask her about it. She wouldn't exactly get up and leave, but he didn't want to ruin the moment.

When her hand wrapped around his, he knew what he would do. He would bring up Mickey later but for now all he wanted was to focus on the laugh he had been deprived of hearing for days and watch her have some time to enjoy herself.

--

The sky was beautiful, the water was just right, the fish were practically massaging her feet and the Doctor was by her side. Rose smiled, feeling glad of her life with the Doctor.

What other human would get to experience this?

_Mickey might've got the chance if you hadn't pushed him away so much that he left you to live in a parallel world._

She ignored the little voice in the back of her head. This was a time to forget about Mickey. Just for a little while. There would always be time to dwell on her mistakes later, but for now, all she wanted to was jump into the waterfall.

So she stood up, much to the Doctor's confusion. She took a few steps back, before she ran and jumped, anticipation rising until her body splashed into the pool, causing ripples to crease the once unmoving water.

Rose smiled, feeling the lukewarm water surround her. She leaned back, letting herself float and closed her eyes. A wave of peaceful serenity came over her.

"Rose, what are you doing?" She heard the Doctor say from nearby, he was probably still sitting on the rock but she was too calm to bother opening her eyes to check.

She grinned, as she replied, "Floating…"

"Right…" He paused, and Rose opened her eyes expecting him to continue, but he didn't and Rose noted that all he did instead was stare at her, a smile on his face.

She raised her hand and flicked water at him. She laughed as he scrunched up his face as the droplets smacked against his skin. His mouth opened in an 'oh' and Rose couldn't help but think how cute he looked in that moment of surprise.

"Rose Tyler," He began, his voice loud and amused, "Did you just flick water at me?"

"Yes I do believe I did," She paused, a grin forming on her lips, "So what are you going to do about it?"

Rose had not expected for him to jump into the water. Espscially with him having a concussion but he had and she swam back in surprise as the big splash of water covered her.

She yelped as his hands closed around her waist. She kicked her feet, trying to swim out of his grip, knowing she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of catching her. She broke loose, but only for a moment. Even with a head injury, he was surprisingly quick and had already trapped her in a hold before she could get even two inches away

His hand brushed under her ribs, causing laughter to erupt from her mouth, "Doctor, stop it!"

He ignored her shouts and proceeded to tickle her even harder. She used her free hand to scoop up a handful of water and poured it down his head, soaking his hair even more. His hand stilled, moving to turn her around to face him properly.

She looked up at him, biting her bottom lip briefly, trying not to notice how close he was to her. His hand moved, resting on the small of her back. Her breath hitched in her throat, as she watched his other hand reach up pulling a stray hair away from her face. He tucked it behind her ear, letting his hand rest on her cheek.

Rose had also not expected him to close the distance between them, pressing his lips lightly against hers.

It took her a moment to react. She had been too stunned by the sudden action to do anything but stare blankly ahead; feeling his hand on her cheek and his lips against her own, but when her brain finally managed to begin working again her eyes fluttered closed.

She leaned forward, letting herself sink into the kiss. It was bliss. Complete and utter bliss. Any expectations she had of him kissing her were far surpassed and she felt her arm reach up his back.

He drew away suddenly, a flush rising in his cheeks. Rose couldn't help the feeling of rejection that suddenly overtook her. He didn't see her like that. Why would he? Why did he kiss her in the first place though?

He looked down, avoiding meeting her eye, as he muttered sheepishly, "I'm sorry…I, uh, I – shouldn't, I mean, I shouldn't have kissed, uh, I shouldn't have done that."

Rose looked at him stuttering and ignoring the feeling of rejection, she couldn't help but smile at how cute he looked. He began to turn away, taking a quick glance up at her, but she grabbed him by the tie and pulled him back down - her lips crashing against his.

She filled the kiss with as much passion as she could muster and grinned in triumph when she felt him kiss her back. Rose could only think one thought before her mind melted with the power of his kiss.

This was heaven.

She felt her back hit against the rock. She gasped which caused the Doctor pulled back to check if she was alright. She gave him a smile, and he mumbled, "Sorry…" into the side of her mouth, placing a light kiss in the process.

"Oi!" a voice shouted from afar, "You two! Get out of there!"

They broke apart, turning towards the source of the voice. A huge bloated man stood at the edge of the pool, face red and puffy with anger. He looked out of place and Rose stifled a laugh at the absurdity of his farmer clothes against the purple sky.

The Doctor turned to look at her, his face slightly flushed with embaressment. She was sure that same look was on her face and one glance at each other caused them both to burst out laughing.

"Oi!" said the man's large booming voice. They ignored him, continuing to laugh until they heard the sound of a gun slice the air.

They turned shocked, seeing the gun raised in the air. It came down to face them and Rose shuffled closer to the Doctor. He wrapped an arm around her protectively.

"Get out of there!" The man shouted once again, but neither of them felt like laughing this time. They were too focused on the gun aimed at them.

"Oh…" was the only response the Doctor verbally gave, "Righty-ho then!"

To be continued...

**AN: Writing something that is anyway romantic, yep definitely harder than I imagined seeing as I am the least romantic person you will ever meet. I'm not kidding. This was definitely a challenge writing this chapter so I applaud anyone who writes romance**** fics. You guys have it hard. **

**Anyway I have gotten them to kiss, but where does it go from here? Will I have one of them get shot? Who knows? Hell, even I don't know since I kust wrote this chapter last night at 2 in the morning. Probably explains why I decided to have them kiss...I was sleep deprived I tells ya. Lol...so drop me a review if you liked it. That's all I have to say. Hope you liked it! :D**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Yeah, I wrote this before the finale aired, but I never got round to getting it uploaded. That finale was...oh, that was sad. He's all on his own again...It's not fair. :(**

**--**

The Doctor, still dripping wet, held his hand out to his companion as she carefully climbed out of the water. He knew she was avoiding his gaze and he wasn't surprised. He shouldn't' have kissed her. He didn't know what had come over him. One minute he had been tickling her, laughing, joking in with the fun as usual and suddenly he had been kissing her.

Maybe she regretted the kiss. He looked at her, picking up her shoes and his…he should probably take them off her. He walked over, ignoring the man with gun staring impatiently at them, and carefully placed his hand over hers taking the shoes from her. He hoped she might've looked up, but she didn't. Her gaze fixated on the hands…or was it his shoes? Either way she wouldn't look him in the eye.

Rose regretted it. Why else wouldn't she be looking at him? Why then, when he pulled away, had she kissed him again?

Why had he done kissed her in the first place? What could he use as an excuse for doing it? Maybe it was the head injury. That explained it. He wasn't thinking straight. She would believe that and they would go back to normal and she wouldn't leave him because of a stupid kiss.

It wasn't stupid though. He had enjoyed it, more than he should have. He wouldn't even mind if it happened again, but Rose obviously didn't want anything like that to happen with him. It was for the better anyway. He was a Time Lord; she was a human, they both knew the consequences of their dance anyway…why had he just referred a relationship to dancing? Did he want to dance? He hadn't danced since Reinette. Maybe she was still upset about that.

Wait, this wasn't the time to think of that. Man waving a gun in their faces was a slightly more pressing matter.

He turned away from his thoughts towards the man, "Hello." He smiled, hoping that it made him look more trusting, "May I enquire to why you are waving a gun in the faces of me and my fine friend?"

"You are trespassing." The large man's voice shouted at him, spurts of saliva hitting the Doctor in the face as he talked. The Doctor rose a hand, wiping them away, instantly regretting standing directly in front of the man.

He looked around at his surrounding, "No. No I'm not. This land isn't owned by anyone. It's not even going to be founded until the 23rd century and then it becomes relaxing spot for tourists."

"It is my property." He repeated, a new wave of saliva squirting at the Doctor who decided that he might as well get out of here before the man continued talking.

"Well, we'll get out of your hair." His eyes darted up to the man's bald head, "Or lack thereof."

He grabbed Rose's hand and attempted to get past him, only for the man to step in front of their path, blocking them whilst raising his gun in warning, "You're staying where you are."

The Doctor's eyes flickered to the gun, suddenly squinting upon closer inspection, "Now, hold on, wait a minute!" His finger rose, pointing at the gun, "That's not even a real gun." He saw Rose look up in surprise as the man' puffy red face darkened, "That's an air gun."

"It is not!" The man protested.

"Oh yes that is!"

"Oh no it isn't!"

"Oh yes it is!" he quipped, before adding, "It's behind you!" He grinned at his joke before his face fell momentarily at the confused reaction he got, "No one been to any plays? No, oh well…" He sighed, "Anyway, that's an air gun."

"It isn't!"

"Oh yes it- oh what's the point. That could go on forever and we wouldn't want that, now would we Rose?" He looked over at her, noticing her eyes were on the gun, "That's an air gun. Sounds like a real gun once fired. Scared the hell out of me the first time I heard one. Although to be fair, it was pointed at me at the time. It used for effect mostly. You can get a bruise if you're too close to one but it's pretty much harmless."

He watched the man stutter and knew he was completely right. If he wasn't then he would've probably been shot by now and that wasn't a good thing.

"Now then," he continued, a grin sliding back on to his face, "We'll be off and you won't stop us. Isn't that right?"

The man remained silent, glaring at him in response.

"Ok then. Rose, let's go."

He walked ahead, Rose's hand in his. She was still avoiding his gaze. He would talk to her in the Tardis; apologize. He shouldn't have kissed her, it was wrong of him to do, especially when she was giving him this kind of response. The Tardis was looming closer, just a few steps ahead. Hopefully Rose wouldn't slap him or demand to go home. He didn't want her to leave.

Suddenly he heard footsteps from behind, but before he could turn around, a shot rang out and suddenly he was aware of acute pain in his back as he fell forward in his knees.

"Rose…" he choked out before his world went black.

To be continued...

**AN: Yeah, I would usually say somethign at this point, but I'm not going to. Mainly because I don't want to give away what is about to happen. So review...**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Yes, I shot the Doctor...god, I'm so mean to him, but here's a new chapter anyway so enjoy!**

**--**

Rose rushed forward, her hand grabbing around the chest of the Doctor as he fell to the ground. She wrapped her arms around his back to steady him as he choked out her name. When he feel against the ground, she withdrew her hand and suddenly found them matted in the sticky red blood...the Doctor's blood.

She slowly looked up, her eyes removing themselves from the horror of what was on her hands to the shooter, no longer holding a air rifle, but a small compact revolver.

She kneeled, barely aware of her surroundings. her gaze now returned to the bloody mess on her hands that was slowly seeping on the ground and suddenly found herself wanting to be rid of the blood so she tried in vain to get it off her hands, now covering her wet clothes in the red substance before she gently grabbed the Doctors's face, "Doctor! Doctor wake up!"

Rose felt tears pricking at the side of her eyes. He couldn't be dead. He just couldn't be. He was alive. the urgent need to confirm that fact took over her and she quickly checked his pulse, breathing a small sigh of relief.

Suddenly she heard a groan and saw the Doctor slowly open his eyes, "Doctor! Focus on me! You're gonna be alright!"

He blinked, his gaze unfocused. He grabbed at her arm, bringing her head closer to his and he slowly whispered in her ear, with great difficulty through the long laboured breaths he took, "When I say-when I say now, I want you to get," He coughed, and she noticed the slight bit of blood dribble down the side of his mouth, "I want you to get into the- into the Tardis."

"I'm not leaving you!"

He stared into her eyes and she had never seen his deep brown ones filled with so much seriousness before, "Trust me! I'll be fine. I'll follow you in, but I need you safe."

"Doctor, you can barely stand!"

"Oh," He took another strained breath, "Time Lord physiology. We're- we're stronger than we look."

His hand lowered, skillfully searching in his pocket as his hand gripped around the two items he wanted. He took out the first and pressed it into Rose's hand with a small smile. Once he was sure she had it, he gripped at the second item, finding comfort in its familiarity.

Rose looked down at her hand, the imprint of the Tardis key feeling numb in her hand. She turned her head towards the approaching footsteps, the gun wavering in his hand and the once scorned man looked surprised by the mere fact he had shot somebody, but Rose could feel no pity for him, not when she wasn't sure if the Doctor was going to be okay or not and, definitely not when she saw the small smirk of satisfaction on his face as he made his steadying approach, gaining confidence with every step.

The Doctor gave her hand one last squeeze before harshly whispering, "Now!"

For a brief second, she felt hesitance. She didn't want to leave him. She wasn't sure what would happen, but the look in his eyes urged her to suppress those fears and run, for his sake. despite when her gut was telling her to stay. She lifted herself up, just in time to hear the sharp buzz of the sonic.

The Doctor watched the man's gun backfire as he tried to shoot at Rose and he suddenly found himself pumped with anger and adrenaline, despite the surge of pain going through him, he stood up. He felt the droplets of blood still dripping from his wound and heard the satisfying sound of the Tardis door closing behind him before he stumbled over to the man and gave one swift, harsh punch.

The man swayed for a moment before landing on the ground with a gentle thud. The Doctor looked down at him and picked up the gun that had fallen haphazardly beside him. He held it in his hands for a moment before flinging it as hard as he could towards the river. He turned on his heels, the extent of his injury catching up on him and rushed towards the Tardis, almost tripping on the way.

The door crashed open as he stumbled in and he found Rose's arms around him instantly guiding him, steadying him as he gasped out, "I need you to get me to the med-bay." He took a deep breath, trying to draw out the pain unsuccessfully, "Now!"

To be continuied...

**AN: Enjoy if you reviewed it...oh wait, that's not right. I mean review if you enjoyed it. What is up with me today? lol**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Sorry about how long it took to get a new update up, but it wasn't my fault. The libraries went on strike or something and they were closed for a week so I couldn't get near a computer...oh god I was so bored. Let's all look on the brightside though. I'm back! No wait, that's not a brightside for you...my story's back! No...that's not really one either...well, anyway, on with the story.**

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"OWWWWWWWWWW!"

"Oh, sorry!" Rose's hand stilled, her face scrunching up in fear that she was doing it wrong, "You okay?"

"Rose I've got a bullet stuck in my back, what do you think?" He sighed, hearing her mutter her apologies again. He was frustrated and in pain, not a god combination. It wasn't her fault. He looked over his shoulder to look her in the eye, "I'm sorry. That was rude of me."

"Rude and not ginger?" she quipped back, smiling slightly.

"Yeah." He took a deep breath, preparing himself once more, "Ok keep going. Just yank it out. Don't stop if I scream in pain again."

She nodded, and he turned back as her grip tightened on the tongs in her hand, "Ok, on the count of three. 1..." The Doctor closed his eyes, "2..."

Rose pulled the bullet out gently, trying not to let his scream of pain get to her. She held back that the tears that threatened to fall, and breathed a sigh of relief when the bullet came into complete view, blood coating its metal.

"OI! That was not on the count of three." He said turning around, pointing at her.

She shrugged, suddenly finding herself unable to look in his eye, "It's better to get it over and done with. Like ripping off the band-aid."

"Uh, can you hand me the..." He began to point up, but instantly gasped in pain, "Ow! Uh, can you hand me the..." His head bobbed up towards the cabinet, "Thing. That thing up there. That silver thing."

"This thing?" She said, holding a strange object in her hands.

He nodded, "Yep!" He popped the 'p', smiling once more, "That's the thing. Great thing that is. Man is that thing good at clearing up awkward wounds like the one on my back. That a good thing."

Rose smirked, "And does that thing have a name?"

"Uh, yeah, of course it does."

Rose waited for him to continue, but when he remained silent she knew why, "And let me guess, that thing has such a good name that it has such a good name that you dare not utter it aloud."

He nodded, "Right...yeah, that and I kind of stole it so I don't really know what it's called. I just call it the thing. Don't you like the thing?"

"Ask me that later." She looked down at the strange device, "So uh what do I do with it?"

"Rose, I want you to hold it over the wound and press the purple button. don't press the red button otherwise it'll...uh, well, it'll...uh, just don't press the red button. Press the purple button."

"Purple button," She nodded as he turned around, "Got it."

It was a strange contraption. It was silver in colour, the handle hand finger imprints on it so she figured that the people the Doctor had stole it off must have been humanoid. That was a good sign. At least they weren't some weird blob alien with tentacles.

The purple and red buttons stood out awkwardly from each side. They shimmered as she placed the device over the Doctor's wound. She took a deep breath, hoping that nothing would go wrong, and pressed the purple button.

The Doctor gasped as a strange pressure was suddenly on his back, griping and tearing and pulling. He bit his lip, holding back a scream. He didn't want to worry Rose. She knew that pulling a bullet out would hurt him so he hadn't bothered holding back there but this was different. She didn't know what it would do to him. Hopefully it worked on him. He hadn't actually used it before.

The pressure died away and he turned around smiling. The pain was gone. He took one look at Rose before he promptly fainted.

To be continued...

**AN: Review if you enjoyed...go on, you know you want to seeing as it's my brithday on Monday...look, the button's right over there...you want to press it. Lol...I'm shameless, but I've been review deprived for a week. Review if you want to. :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: I'm suffering writer's block. Stupid brain, but somehow I managed to write this last night despite it all so let's all hope and pray I haven't just ruined my story. Oh and guess what I did yesterday on my birthday...Yeah, I ended up injuring my hand...I have the worst luck. and it's my writing hand but that's not gonna stop me. I'm going to get past my stupid writer's block and I'm gonna get on the 'update all my stories before my reviewers kill me' bandwagon. Lol Also to everyone who review, thank you and to everyone who wished me a happy birthday then thanks and I did have a good one save for the small injury. Although now I'm sporting a black bandage which I've wrapped around my hand. I like ti. So anyway, on with the story.**

**--**

He groaned, the pain in his head intensifying with every breath into consciousness. He opened his eyes blearily, knowing he was not alone. He could feel something pressing down on his hand and looking down, he saw the oh so familiar mass of blonde hair from the head of Rose Tyler.

He smiled before looking around at his surroundings. How had he gotten here? Why was he sleeping in Rose's room? On Rose's bed?

His mind cut off from his thoughts when he heard the soft mumble from the blonde who was slowly drifting awake. He looked down at her, a smile tugging gently on his lips. When her brown eyes met his, her mouth widened as she murmured, "Hi..."

"Hello." he answered back, without thinking.

"You had me worried."

He took a good and proper look at her. Her eyes were red rimmed, her hair was a mess and her mascara had been running slightly, but despite it all. Despite all the worry he had put her through, she was still brilliant and...

"I'm sorry." He broke his gaze away from her eyes and instead took to his surroundings, "So is there any reason why I am on your bed in your room when the last thing I remember is my head going to the floor of the medi-bay."

"Well, the bed in there didn't look comfortable and I don't like being in there anyway. I didn't know where your room was so I brought you in here."

"Yeah, well, it's much more comfortable. Brilliant. Fantastic even but you don't look very comfortable sitting there." He sat up, his feet dangling at the edge of the bed, as his gaze trailed back to her. He suddenly was faced with the feeling to run away before either one of them decided to step on the new social land mine created from the kiss they had shared before the 'him being shot' incident. She probably regretted the kiss.

He stood up and stretched, plastering a grin on his face, "So Rose Tyler I'm gonna go get a shower because frankly I stink."

"No kidding..." she mumbled under her breath. It hadn't been meant for his ears but unsurprisingly the Doctor's great hearing picked up the comment.

His face consorted in mock hurt, "Oi! Cheeky! And you say I'm rude." Rose looked up, biting her lip to stop the laughter threatening to spill from her mouth at the look on his face.

"You are rude!"

"Am not!" he replied indignantly.

"Are to!"

"Am not!"

"Oh you so are!"

"I, Rose Tyler, am not as rude as you!"

It was Rose's turn to stare at him with shock before she pursed her lips together, biting back a brilliant retort to opt instead for the unnerving stare she had been practicing.

He kept his eyes firmly locked on her, finding himself surprisingly uncomfortable under her glare. Had he gone too far? Maybe he had gone too far...yes, he had gone too far otherwise why would she be giving him that glare. That wasn't a good glare. He didn't even know what that glare meant and he knew Rose inside out so her giving him a glare like that wasn't good.

She wasn't a rude person. Of course she wasn't rude. Rude Rose...yeah right. She wasn't rude. Why had he said that? Kind generous Rose - now that was more like it.

Maybe he should apologize...He thought for a moment, letting the idea sink in before deciding that an apology would probably be best.

"You're not ruder than me. I'm rude. Very rude. Really really rude. Rude is my middle name...no, actually it's not really," He paused, seeing no change in her reaction, "But of course you know that rude can't possible be my middle name seeing as I don't really have a name. I mean who was give themselves a name like rude. I mean who would name themselves after a...although I once knew a bloke called Book. I know Book, what a name! And he worked in a library and his hobby was writing and he lived on the planet Bookworm. Ah good old planet Bookworm. They did once get inhabited by a giant worm...I had to save them from it. It tried to bite my head off and..."

He trailed off, realising that not only was he rambling, but Rose was still staring at him with _that_ face. Why was she staring at him like that?

His eyebrows knitted together as confusion replaced his features, "What?" She remained silent, "What?" She raised an eyebrow at him which only caused him to become slightly more paranoid, "Why are you staring at me like that?"

Calmly she replied, "No reason."

Her response only made him feel even more unnerved. She was probably mad at him. Probably for calling her rude and being rude for calling her rude and being rude in general and also for rambling instead of apologizing for being rude...but maybe she wasn't only angry at him for being rude. He was rude normally and she forgave him for it so maybe she was angry at something else. Oh, maybe she was angry for making her worry or...no, she wouldn't be, would she? No no no no no no, of course she wasn't, but maybe she was. Maybe she really did regret the kiss and was now pretending to be angry about him being rude when she was really angry about the fact he kissed her.

Oh that was probably it. Oh, this was not good. There was no way that this was in any way, shape or form good. He knew he had to do the right thing.

He swallowed, taking a breath to prepare himself, "Ok I'm sorry for kissing you. It was wrong of me. I shouldn't have done it. I mean it was a great kiss. Brilliant kiss in fact, Fantastic in all sense of the word but you regret it and I understand. I really do. I mean I'm a Time Lord..." he paused momentarily, but before Rose could even mutter a word in response to his sudden outburst, he was continuing. The only difference now was that he had found himself suddenly offended, "Wait, I'm a Time Lord. What's wrong with me? Why don't you want to kiss me? I am a great kisser. I mean the teeth are still a bit weird for me but they don't stop me from being a great kisser. And another thing-"

Rose mouth hung open in confusion. Where had this come from? Seeing that he wasn't likely going to shut up anytime soon, Rose decided to do the one thing she knew would shut up that adorable trap of his.

She kissed him.

To be continued...

**AN: Review if you enjoyed :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: I think this is a shorter chapter than usual, but I think this is as much or as clsoe to fluff as I can write...well, I could write fluffier stuff, but it would go against my personality and I would probably end up cringing in embaressment...lol. Anyway, on with the story.**

**--**

He had been surprised, to say the least. One minute he had been talking about...what had he been talking about? Oh who cares what it was, but then she was kissing him and he had never been caught so much off guard. Hell, he had even forgotten what he was talking about only moments before.

Her hands trailed up his neck to reach at his hair, pulling him closer to her and he wasn't surprised to find himself pulling her closer to him. Ok, he was a little surprised, seeing as he didn't usually do this with companions.

One of his hands trailed along the hem of her t-shirt whilst the other rested on the curve of her back.He let his fingers tug at the material slightly, brushing her skin as if by accident. He grinned into her mouth, feeling her gasp a little as his fingers did their 'accidental' magic.

He suddenly found his legs hit something and moments later he felt the brief sensation of falling until his back hit the soft mattress and Rose fell on top of him with an 'Ooof!' only microseconds later.

"That was graceful!" he commented, receiving a glare from her in return, "Well it was!"

"This coming from the guy who tried to moonwalk and ended up falling flat on his face, breaking the stereo in the process."

"How did you know about that?"

"I was standing in the corridor watching you. I almost broke a rib trying to hold back the laughter. Oh and then you went and tried to get up, but ended up slipping again on your jacket."

She giggled at the memory, but suddenly he reached her arms around her as he stood up. She yelped in surprise, wrapping her legs instinctively around him as he turned midair and pushed her down on the bed, his mouth finding hers once more.

She soon forgot all about the memory as his tongue grazed across he lips. She opened her mouth letting him gain entry when he suddenly pulled back, grinning wickedly at her.

"What?" she asked, confused by his actions.

"Well..." was the only reply she got.

"Well what?"

"I would like an apology, Miss Tyler." She couldn't help but noticed the edges of his mouth tighten as he grinned harder.

"Ok I'm sorry..." she began and watched his reaction before she continued, "Sorry that your such a bad kisser."

His mouth widened, making a small 'O' and she couldn't help but grin at the response.

"Well then," he replied, trying to find his cool, calm, collective side once more, but failed miserable as he stuttered to find words, "You...Miss Tyler, will...uh,"

"I'll what?"

"Uh, well then, if they were so bad then why did you seem to be enjoying them so much?" He smiled, glad with his comeback, although it was a bit late, but who could really blame him when she was grinning up at him like that?

She shrugged nonchalantly, but ended up looking like she was trying to scratch her back, seeing as she was lying down with the Doctor towewring over her, "Well, I guess I was faking my enjoyment,"

His eyes widened, "Oh really?" Rose nodded in response, "Then I guess I'll just ahve to punish you for you trickery of poor old me."

Before she could even protest his arms were digging at her ribs. She swotted at him, knowing that this wouldn't end up good for her if she let him win, She bit her lip, holding back laughter as she pushed at him, reaching to tickle him as well. He let out a snort of laughter as he moved to get out of her grip before overbalancing and falling off the side of the bed.

He landed on the ground with a very unmanly yelp and Rose rolled over to see him, face scrunched up as he scratched the side of his head. His brown eyes turned towards her.

They took one look at each other before bursting out laughing.

To be continued...

**AN: I think I might go back towards some sort of plot next chapter...if I can think of something. Review if you enjoyed...**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: So the plot bunnies went to wa with the fluff bunnies (that i didn't know existed) in my head, but they came to a compromise and here it is, the longer than usual chapter all wrapped up in an imaginary bow.**

**--**

"Oh, this isn't going well, now is it?" commented the Doctor as his laughter subsided.

Rose shook her head as laughter erupted from her mouth once more. A smile tugged helplessly at her lips as she watched the Doctor 's expression.

He raised an eyebrow at her, "You think this is funny, don't you?"

Rose nodded and pointed. Her mouth opened on the verge of saying something, but she closed it immediately, opting to continue laughing instead.

The Doctor's eyes narrowed, taking in the sight of her and before she knew it he had grabbed her arm, pulling her down to land on top of his lap.

"What are you doing?" squealed Rose as instinctively spread her hands out trying to grab something to stop her injuring herself during her descent.

She fell into him, her hands resting above the place where both of his hearts were. The corner of her mouth turned upwards as she noticed the quick thumping of his hearts as they raced under her fingertips.

Her face was inches from his as she leaned forward, licking her lips as her eyes darted from his eyes to his lips and back up again.

"What…" Rose began but stopped clearing her throat, trying to stop how breathless the tone of her voice was, "What are you doing?"

"What makes you think I'm doing something?" grinned the Doctor in response.

"Your hearts are racing," stated Rose, biting lightly at her bottom lip.

"Are they?" The Doctor's eyebrows rose in surprise and she watched with curiosity as he brought his hand up to his chest, letting it entwine with her own, "So it is." He leaned forward, a wicked glint in his eyes, "And what about yours? Is it racing?"

She gulped, "Is what racing?"

"Your heart?"

If Rose were to admit in all truthfulness of the matter, she could easily tell the Doctor twenty different ways to explain how her heart was hammering against her chest, beating wildly as a surge of adrenaline was pumping through just for the close proximity of him to her. She could feel his breath lightly against his ear, the double heartbeat underneath her fingertips and the mouth she ached to press her lips to and all these things – and more – were causing her heart to race, but she would never ever admit that to him.

"I dunno," She grinned at him, "Is it?"

His eyes widened in surprise at her forward approach. He gulped, opening his mouth to reply, "Well, we should check, shouldn't we?"

"Yeah we should…"

He brought his free hand up to hers and led them both to hover over her heart before he gently pushed her hand down. She closed her eyes and listened, feeling her heartbeat mesh with his. When she opened her eyes, she couldn't help but smile at the fact he had closed his eyes too.

She leaned forward and placed a light kiss on his lips.

His eyes shot open, revealing the brown orbs that were misted with surprise, "What was that for?"

"No reason." She replied chuckling at him. He joined in, a smile filling up his face as they sat, faces only mere centimetres apart laughing at nothing in particular and loving every second of it.

Their laughter immediately stopped at the sound of a blaring alarm ringing in their ears. Rose turned, wide-eyed, to the Doctor, "What's that?"

Using the bed for support as he stood up, he brushed down his suit and turned to Rose, holding out his hand to hoist her up, "That, I believe, is an alarm."

She rolled her eyes at his response, "Yeah, I got that part, but what does it mean?"

"I don't know, but it can't be good." He chanced a look at her and saw her worried expression before he ran out of the door.

Rose stared at the space that the Doctor had stood only moments before and closed her eyes, bringing her arm up to her head as a sudden ache hit her.

The Tardis lurched and Rose slowly sat down on her bed, holding her head in her hands as another wave of pain split down her head.

In the distance, she heard the Doctor calling her name, but it meshed and mingled with the sound of the blaring alarms ringing loudly in her ears. She rubbed at her temples slowly, willing – begging – the headache to disperse.

The alarms dimmed to a dull ache in her mind as a flash of white filled her vision. Tears burned in her eyes and she gasped as the pain suddenly disappeared.

"Rose!"

The Doctor appeared in the doorway causing Rose to look up. She blinked, pushing back the tears that had almost fell, "What?"

"We've landed. Someone or something is calling us in, hence the alarms. It's a distress signal unlike any I've ever had before. The Tardis didn't take well to it, tried to stop me landing and are you alright?"

She looked at him as he stepped forward, concern evident on his face, "Rose, are you alright?"

She blinked, "Oh sorry, I was miles away. I'm alright. I'm always alright."

She couldn't help but wonder why she had chosen those particular words. Maybe it was because of the meaning that was behind them. The reminder of the pain he had been in when she had watched him first mutter those words. Somehow they seemed to fit the situation.

Something was wrong…or had been wrong only moments before, but it was over and she felt a sudden need not to mention it. She didn't want to worry him. He worried over her too much already.

He glanced at her as she stood up but brushed off the weird nudge in the back of his mind that tried to remember something about her response, but it eluded him and he brushed it away.

"Well then, we should head out and try and find out what brought us here. Wouldn't want it running away from us before we had a proper chance to look at it. You know like the time we tried to get a look at that Krepat. Oh that was a feisty snail, wasn't it Rose?"

She smiled, "Yeah, although I didn't realise a snail could actually be that fast. I mean I know it was the size of dog, but you just sort of imagine all snails to be slow."

"Yeah, it kind of ruins the expression as slow as a snail doesn't it?" Rose nodded, trying to ignore the slight dull throb worming its way in the back of her mind as they hastily walked through the corridor and into the console room, "Oh I love your Earth expressions. Your lot sure came up with some random ones."

"Such as?"

"Well, there are a lot of them. Like, 'Now you're sucking diesel.' I mean who says that?"

Rose scrunched up her face, "What does that even mean?"

"You see, this proves my point." He continued, waving his arms about, "Your lot make up these random expressions and you don't even know what they mean." He opened the door and took her hand as they headed out, "And you'd think that one day you'd…" He trailed away as he took in their surroundings, "It can't be…"

"What is it?" she asked concerned, "What's wrong?"

"We shouldn't be here."

To be continued...

**AN: i wonder how many of you can guess where they landed or what is up with the sudden headache Rose got. And how many of you know what, 'Now you're sucking diesal' means? My mother says it all the time...it drives me insane. lol**

**Oh and a small shoutout to Emela (very good writer by the way, I would suggest reading some of her stories, actually you can all just go ahead and read them all) who will get a certain part in the chapter. lol...we were having a conversation about it the other day. lol...**

**Oh and one last thing, review if you enjoyed :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Sorry for not having this up sooner. I'm in a dark place (not literally, it's actually bright outside) but emotionally. Yes, I know how cheesy that sounds, but unfortunitely it's true. I won't go into details but I just haven't been in the mood to write lately, but I'll force myself through it seeing as that's how I always deal with my problems...bury them. Hmmm...I'm not sure that's actually healthy but anyway...forget about me and let's get on with the story. **

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"Doctor, what is it? What's wrong?" asked Rose, stumped by his suddenly negative reaction.

He turned to her and softly said, "Rose look at the sky."

She frowned before looking up, and saw nothing unusual, "What is it?" The Doctor gently grasped her by the shoulders and turned her around to face the other way. She let out a small gasp, "Oh…"

The sight before her was a surprise, to say the least. Instead of the normal clear blue sky that usually welcomed her any time they landed on Earth, this time she was greeted with a zepplin-filled sky.

"Is this…" She turned to him, biting her lip, trying to hide a smile, "Are we in the parallel world?"

"I think so…"

"So that means…"

"Yeah." He nodded slowly before he calmly said, "Mickey's here."

He let out a sigh that went unnoticed by Rose as she turned around once more to look at the zepplins in the sky. She couldn't help but notice that there were fewer than the last time they were here - a lot fewer in fact. Maybe they had stopped using as much them after the Cyberman invasion. Hopefully they had the same initiative with the earpieces.

"Where are we?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow, "I mean, like where in the world are we? Or parallel world in this case."

He opened his mouth to reply, but promptly stopped to survey his surroundings, "Well…" he raised a hand to scratch at his comforting place – just below the ear and to the left – before he turned back to her, "I think we're in…" He sniffed the air, "France."

Rose mouth opened in shock, her brow furrowing in the process, "France?" she asked incredulously.

"It smells like France."

"And where exactly in _France_ are we?" she asked, biting back laughter.

He licked two of his fingers before bringing them up, feeling the wind blow against them. Rose's face was the picture of bemusement as she watched him out of the corner of her eye, "Paris…"

"Paris?" She nodded before she promptly burst out into a fit of laughter, "Paris?" he gasped out through her laughter, "You got Paris from licking your fingers?"

He shrugged, a smile filling his face like the final piece in a jigsaw puzzle, "Yeah that and…"

"And what?"

He raised his hand and pointed behind her shoulder. She turned recognising the familiar figure of the Eiffel Tower in the distance. She turned around; slapping him in the chest, "You cheated?"

"At what exactly?" he replied, his tone mocking her slightly.

She pointed at him, narrowing her eyes, "At guessing where we were."

He placed his hands in his pockets, leaning forward until his face was inches from hers, "Correct me if I'm wrong but did I not guess right?"

"Well…" She bit her lip. He had got her there. He had guessed right, but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of being right once again. Well, at least not easily, "You had a big old giveaway right infront of you."

His smirk widened, "Still got it right." She rolled her eyes at him, "Didn't I?"

Maybe there was no easy way to beat him on this one. There'd always be another day to pull down his ego, just a little bit, but maybe it was for the best if she gave in on this one. At least then she would be able to go and find Mickey sooner, "Yes you did."

"Yes I did indeed. Don't question my brilliant Time Lord methods again, Miss Tyler."

She scoffed, "Wouldn't dream of it. So this is where Mickey is." The Doctor's face fell; his smile faltering that went unnoticed by Rose "I mean the Tardis must have landed here for a reason. The last time we were here, the Tardis was almost dead by the time we got here, but this time it's fine so we must be here for a reason."

"Yeah," he replied downheartedly, unable to ignore the excitement in her eyes as she turned away, "We must be…" Rose looked up at him again and he reverted back into Doctor mode, the smile slipping easily back onto his face, "But what for?"

He ducked back into the Tardis, rushing up to the time rotor, his hand breezing over switches and dials as he turned the screen towards him. Rose quickly joined him at his side when he finally stilled. He pulled out his glassed, studying in detail the writing on the screen before him.

Rose looked at the screen despite knowing that she wouldn't understand a word of it. It was in his native language – Gallifreayean – and she didn't have a clue when one word ended and another one began. The day she'd understand would be the day hell would freeze over… She bit her lip in curiosity. Was there a hell? Like a proper demons and fire and pitchfork hell? She glanced at the Doctor, contemplating asking him about it before deciding with the look on his face that it was better not to ask about hell.

"So what is it?" She asked, placing a hand on his arm, "Why are we here?"

"It doesn't make sense…"

"What doesn't make sense?"

"This!" he shouted, rubbing both his hands through his hair. It didn't make sense though. The Tardis didn't work this way. Travel between parallel worlds were impossible and this…doesn't make any sense at all, "Rose, this is impossible.We shouldn't be here. We can't be here. Parallel worlds are sealed off and there is no possible explaination to why we are here."

"Can we get back?"

He looked up, a small piece of hope igniting within him. Maybe she wanted to go…maybe she didn't want to see Mickey. He smiled, nodding, "Yeah, we can get back."

"And it's not damaging the Tardis by being here?"

He looked at the screen, and shook his head in relief, "Nope, we are perfectly safe and so is the Tardis." He leaned back and slipped his glasses back into his pocket, "Although I have no idea as to why the Tardis isn't being affected by being here."

She smiled, letting it light up her face and he couldn't help but smile in return even though he knew that this moment would be ruined by whatever her next words would be, but he let himself enjoy the moment, however fleeting it may be.

"So let's go find Mickey!" She smiled brightly, her voice full of hope and excitement. She could get Mickey back and she would make it up to him for not paying him any proper attention to him. This was her chance at redemption.

Rose turned away from him and headed towards the door not noticing the smile falter on the Doctor's face with each step away from him she took. He knew this was her chance at making it up to Mickey, but each step towards her former boyfriend was another away from him.

He should never get too close. It never ends well.

He let out a final sigh before slowly walking down the ramp and out the door, with his heart growing heavier with each step.

It really never ends well.

To be continued...

**AN: Review if you enjoyed...sorry there was no fluff, but the plot bunnies won out. Damn those pesky rabbits...oh who am I kidding? Who can't love those pesky plot bunnies? So twenty points to whoever guesses how Rose and the Doctor are going to try and find Mickey with? And heads up to last chapter, 21 points to **friends-girl2008-Rose10-fan **and** xAlex-Drakex **for guessing correctly that the Doctor and Rose ended up in a parallel world. As they say, 'Great minds think alike'...oh wait there's a flaw in that logic. I'd have to be a great mind...which I'm not but the rest of you are and I'm going to shut up now. Review if you enjoyed...**


	14. Chapter 14

**AN Good news people! I've got a new USB pen, although my laptop technically broke again but I've still got a new USB pen. thank god I still ahev my half-ass computer. I've still got to write for my other stories and I should have updates coming within the week. Another piece of bad news (more for me than for you) is that I'm back to school on tuesday. Urgh! I know, horrible but at least I;ve got my stories to take my mind of it. **

Rose smiled, letting the corners of her mouth turn upwards as the thought of seeing Mickey again filled her mind. It was hard to digest that somewhere out there the man she thought she would never see again; the man who she had missed; the man who had plagued her mind since his departure was somewhere out there saving the world.

Her smiled widened at the thought. Mickey was out there doing good deeds for the world – however parallel - but she still felt the need to make it up to him. She had spent so much time taking him for granted. It was wrong of her to treat him like that. They had spent years being friends, had went out together. He had supported her in her times of need, but once she had met the Doctor she had dropped him like an old sock. It was – unfortunately – not one of the finer moments in their friendship and as much as she didn't regret her decision to travel with the Doctor, she did regret the way she had swanned off without giving him another moments thought.

She couldn't help but realise how much he meant to her once he was gone. She had never expected the plagues of guilt to weigh her down, nor did she think of the overwhelming worry of what he was doing. He was after all Mickey and he didn't have a lot of experience with saving the world. Then again neither had she until meeting the Doctor, but it was still Mickey. She couldn't help but be worried.

The Doctor made his way out of the Tardis, the loud thumping of his footsteps against the pavement breaking her out of her thoughts. She turned her head to look at him, going to reach for his hand. Just as her hand skimmed against his, he moved forward out of her reach and began to take in his surroundings.

Rose furrowed her brow. What was up with him?

"Doctor, are you alright?"

"Fine." He turned and smiled at her, quickly diminishing her worries about him as excitement about Mickey returned, "So how exactly are we gonna find Mickey?" he questioned, "Because I don't think he's gonna be in the phonebook."

"Well, he has my mobile.Why don't we just ring him?"

The Doctor's mouth opened, but instead of words coming out he just stood there (to Rose's amusement) with his mouth agape. He kind of reminded her of a deer caught in the headlights. That is if a deer could talk...then the Doctor would fir the profile perfectly. A talking deer caught in the headlights.

Deciding to give him a minute to compose himself, or at least wait for words to come out of mouth, she decided to lean against the railing nearby and was surprised when she finally heard his voice, "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because you don't think of the obvious."

"But that's just..." He closed his eyes, letting his fingers wander towards his nose in order to rub the ache that was beginning to form behind there, "Oh, my head is killing me." He muttered to himself, not intending for Rose to overhear his self-proclamation.

"How bad is it?"Rose asked, placing a concerned hand against his arm.

He removed his arm from the bridge of his nose and took a moment to stare at her. She was always so concerned about him. That almost made him smile once more, but the headache was indeed bad. Actually he couldn't remember a headache this bad before, but as much as he liked the fact Rose was concerned about him he wouldn't let her worry about him. He stuck a smile on his face, "Oh, it's not that bad! Trust me, it's probably that minor concussion of mines acting up a little bit."

"I forgot about that..." Rose mused. After all that had happened, that head injury had seemed so far away from them. It was hard to imagine it being only yesterday. He had been shot, they had kissed and they had ended up back in the parallel universe where Mickey was...yep, that head injury was definitely very far away, "I had this headache earlier after we...you know," His face was the mask of confusion, "Kissed."

"Oh..." His eyes widened suddenly, "OH!"

"What?"

"That's why it was so sudden."

"What was so sudden?" She waited a moment for him to answer but he was stuck inside his own head again which prompted her to nudge him in the side, "Doctor!"

"Ow!" He glared at her, rubbing his new ache and silent cursing the fact she had a bony elbow, "What?"

"What was so sudden?" she repeated.

"Oh, my headache. You probably got that headache because of me." He stared guiltily to towards the floor, "Sorry, psychic transfer and all that." His smile was sheepish, and she felt very aware that he was very very close to her as he made his apology, but knowing that if she stared at his lips with the urge to kiss the breath out of him wouldn't help her realise what the hell he was talking about so she instead decided to raise an eyebrow at him, "Well, did I ever tell you that I am sort of...well, psychic."

"You can see the future?" asked Rose, with suspicion. The only contact she ever had were with psychics were the back alley ones her mother often found the notion of going to. She remembered going to one once with her mother. They'd look into their crystal ball - clad in excessive amounts of jewellery and dark exotic colours, - and inform you that one day in the future you'd meet a man. And that always interested her mother. It just made her bored and a little annoyed at the fact that their was meant to be a replacement of her father coming to them. Of course, that man never did seem to come.

"Why would I need to see the future Rose..." He asked incredulously, "When I already know all of history?"

"Well, I dunno. So if you're not that kind of psychic then what? You can read people's minds?"

"Well, yeah."

A burst of anger filled her suddenly, "Have you been reading my mind?"

"What?" He gulped at the look in her eyes, "No! Of course not! I can read minds but firstly Rose, I haven't been able to do that for ages. Even if I still could Rose, I would never invade your personal thoughts let alone anyone else's. When I said psychic, well I can sometimes end up projecting my thoughts and feelings if I lose myself in something and when we were, you know..." He coughed, "Um, well...you know, so when we were...doing that, I sort of forgot about holding back the psychic barriers and I must have accidentally given you my headache.Or at least the one I was about to have."

"Oh...god, you must be in hell right now. That headache was a killer."

He grinned, "Well, I'm still standing so it can't be that bad." He shuffled closer to her, smiling down at her, "Now can it?"

"Mickey!" she suddenly shouted.

He quickly stepped back from her, as almost repelled by the mere mention of his name, and turned to look over his shoulder. He found nothing and no one. He turned back to face her, "What?"

"We need to call Mickey!" She quickly pulled out her phone and dialled, "What was my old number again?" He swallowed back a small pang of hurt and was on the verge of reciting the numbers he knew so well but was cut off, "Oh yeah, I remember now."

She punched in the numbers before holding it up to her ear, letting the ringing repeat itself until it finally stopped, "Hello?"

To be continued...

**AN: Review if you enjoyed...come on do it because I'm back...improve my mood even more. So...check out for the rest of my stories, updates should be resuming as normal. Hurray! **


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: Ok, yeah this stories been forgotten about for a week. Sorry about that, but it's a bit hard to write. I've barely found any time to write at all in fact. Stupid coursework and history essay and english speeches and...oh let me not bore you with the details.**

The Doctor watched anxiously as Rose dialled, waiting for the person on the other end – the person he thought he would never meet again – to answer. He couldn't help but that luck (if it even existed) was on his side.

Apparently luck wasn't on his side.

"Hello." Rose smiled, letting it fill up her face, "Mickey? Is that you?"

"Who is this?" A voice asked on the other end, "How'd you get this number?"

"Hold on, your not Mickey." Definitely not Mickey, considering she had a female voice. Rose gulped. It wasn't...Mickey's new girlfriend, was it?

The Doctor's head shot up. It wasn't Mickey? Who else would have Rose's phone? They had given it to Mickey with the express goal of stopping the Cyberman with it. Unless...oh not even Mickey the Idiot could have had his phone stolen, but then whoever was stupid enough had kept the number...no, maybe it was Jake.

He reached forward, plucking the phone from Rose's grip, ignoring her protests, "Hello? This is the Doctor. Now who am I speaking to?"

"Doctor?"

"Yes, that's me. The Doctor. And the person you were just speaking to was Rose Tyler. And your name would be...?"

"This is Mickey's, uh, I mean Mr Smith's personal assistant."

Personal assistant? Mickey the idiot had a personal assistant? Wow, he was going up in the world. Who would have thought it? He definitely would have laughed at the notion. It wasn't that Mickey was incompetent...although sometimes he did wonder, but the fact that Mickey would be a figure of authority to someone. Now that was the funny thing. He couldn't imagine him giving orders. Especially not after the screaming like a girl incident. Well, that was actually incidents but if you scream like a girl once then it just forces you down a few pegs in the male respect. No man is meant to sound like a girl...except on the planet Feltock but that was for a whole bundle of strange and difficult to explain reasons. And he was calling himself Mr Smith? Oh this was...

"And is," He paused, trying not to laugh at the words, "Mr Smith available to speak. I'm sure he'd like to speak to us."

"I'm sure he would." the assistant gushed, "Is it true that you helped Mic- Mr Smith save a parallel world from the Slitheen and the Sycorax and the Autons? And also the Cybermen?"

Helped Mickey save the world? He was the one doing the saving of the world, not Mickey. Sure sometimes Mickey helped, but he wasn't the main saver of worlds. No that was the Doctor - him! Not Mickey. It was practically his profession. The Doctor and Rose - Saviour of Worlds. There was even a statue of them on a few planets with that on it. He was the one who travelled through time and space with Rose getting into trouble and trying to save as many planets as they could. Not Mickey. How dare he!

Sure, he helped hack into the military database and shot a missile at them in 10 Downing Street but he wouldn't have been able to do that without his help. Yes, the Cybermen...he had helped there with the code but still. And sure Mickey had...no wait, what had Mickey done to help vanquish the Sycorax? Nothing, well, he wasn't sure about anything before he woke up but who was the one with the sword fighting a big old Sycorax? Not Mickey! That was for sure! And the Autons? Unless you count getting a plastic counterpart who messes up a restaurant and blubbering as helping then he sure did help as Rose helped knock the anti-plastic in the Nestene Consciousness. Yeah, he did a lot of helping there...

Was it just him or was he beginning to sound like his old self?

Instead of answering the question, he ignored it. It was probably for the best anyway, "Is Mickey there or not?"

"He's at a funeral at the moment, sir."

"A funeral?"

"Yes, you didn't hear?"

"Hear what?"

"About Jake?"

"Jake's dead?"

Hr hadn't really known the man long but he didn't expect that if he ever returned to this particular parallel world that he'd find him dead. He kind of like the guy, he had guts, courage...he didn't deserve to die.

"No, Jake's not dead."

"Then what?"

"Well, I'm not meant to say anything about it over the phone. You know especially with this being Torchwood, but I'm sure Mickey would love to see you two. You do know where Torchwood is?"

Torchwood? What was Torchwood? Why did it sound vaguely familiar? Wait a second; wasn't that house in Scotland called Torchwood? Yes, it was called the Torchwood estate...ah, Queen Victoria and the werewolf. He really should check out she wasn't bitten. It wouldn't end well. Well, at least not for the royalty of the early 21st century or their servants...

"No, not really. Where are you?"

"Surely you've read the papers. We are public organisation now. We didn't use to be but with the Cybermen invasion, it was better for us to be made aware of for the general public's sake."

"Right yes of course. Haven't been in town recently. So where is Torchwood?"

"Well, London of course. We do have a few around the world but if you're looking to speak to Mickey then you'd better come to our one at Canary Wharf."

Canary Wharf? An odd place for an organisation called Torchwood. And how did that have anything to do with the house in Scotland? Curious...

"Ok..." He paused, "And what date and time is it right now?"

The phone was silent for a moment. He really needed to find that old watch of his. It used to tell him the date and time of wherever he landed and then he came across Robin Hood and he never saw it again. He didn't even look that rich and who steals a watch? It hadn't ended up being a good day.

"It's half two sir. And it's 27th May 20.7."

"20.7?"

"The year, sir."

"Right, the year. Of course, silly me." He laughed, trying to make it seem like a big joke, "Ok then, goodbye."

"Bye sir."

He hung up and looked towards Rose. She raised an eyebrow, "What did _she_ say?"

"Well, I'm a little fuzzy on the details but I think we're going to find out a bit more in London."

"What's in London exactly?"

"Torchwood."

"And what's Torchwood?"

He shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine."

"Can we use the Tardis?" She pointed towards the blue box, "I mean this is a parallel world after all. Will it still work?"

"No idea, but it's still here so maybe it's here for a reason. And that reason and the reason why it's still working has something to do with Torchwood."

"Right..." She smiled, "Let's go see Torchwood then. And Mickey."

She bundled towards the Tardis, not noticing as the Doctor's face fell.

Mickey...he forgot about him. Again.

To be continued...

**AN: Ok I promise Mickey will be in the next chapter and it will be longer. It also will not be a kind of filler chapter like the previous two have kind of been. This will be a proper chapter with plot progressing and probably a slightly jealous Doctor and I know there's that thing with Jake I have to do (I'm not 100 sure what I'm gonna do so any ideas?) but it will be a proper chapter and it'll be up within the week. Ok, that's all I have to say. Review if you enjoyed...**


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: Ok well, I may or may not have promised to have Mickey in this chapter and (I'm forgetful at times...) lol...well, it hasn't happened but I'm thinking that it will probably happen in the next chapter or the one after that, but I wanted a chapter that was like a bit of banter between Rose and the Doctor before I actually had them enter Torchwood (Which they still aren't sure what it is yet) and then depending on what I decide with the plot then there will be some Doctor-Mickey jealousy...well, probably. On with the story...**

"Hold on!" he shouted above the roar of the Tardis engines. It screeched, knowing that the journey was wrong. How was it even possible for them to have made it through the borders of parallel worlds unscathed? The last time had ended up with him looking at the possibility of being stuck there forever, whilst looking at a seemingly completely dead Tardis. The thought made him frown.

How was it possible? There had to be a reason. Something - anything - to explain why this was even possible.

He pulled a lever, causing the Tardis to give a lurch. He watched Rose fall back into the captains' chair with a yelp, the sudden lurch causing her grip to loosen against the support beam she had just been holding.

The Tardis rocked once again; an unnatural screech of metal accompanied it. The Doctor doubled over as a sudden bout of pain struck him. He grasped at the console, suddenly needing its support more than ever. The headache he had mildly been aware of moments ago had pitched up a few levels in the pain department.

Suddenly all was silent as the Tardis landed with a gentle bump.

"Right, that was one hell of a ride!" Rose commented, smoothing out the creases of her outfit as she stood up. She waited for a moment expecting the Doctor to come out with something like, 'Oi! It wasn't that bad!' but all remained silent. That worried her. She couldn't see him, "Doctor?"

She stepped forward, moving her head to see past the time rotor. She raised an eyebrow as she saw the Doctor hunched forward, "Doctor, are you alright?"

He looked up at her, his face blank and impassive before he gave a small smile and straightened up muttering, "Fine."

He moved to pick up his coat, quickly rubbing his head. The pain had once again reduced itself to an annoying headache but he was worried. There was something wrong with this scenario. The parallel earth, the headaches, the Tardis remaining here without being damaged...they were related.

The only problem was he didn't know how?

--

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. He wasn't surprised. Not really, but Canary Wharf? Who would set up a secret organisation in Canary Wharf and then decide that it shouldn't be secret any more? In Canary Wharf? And what was Torchwood exactly?

He let his gaze flicker over to Rose who was looking around the entrance to Canary Wharf. She was probably contemplating it in detail like he was doing.

She looked over to him and smiled. He found himself smiling back, instantly cursing himself. He shouldn't be smiling. She was probably smiling because she was finally going to see Mickey again. Sure she had a right to be happy, but the whole point of her grieving the fact she would never see him again was with the knowledge she would never see him again. Yet here they were, a few weeks later after the last goodbye and what a surprise! Mickey's turns up again!

He sighed inwardly. He shouldn't be acting so childish. It wasn't right. He should be happy for her but what exactly did that mean now? He had just ended up with the courage - however surprising the incident came to him - to kiss her and now he wasn't even sure if it meant anything?

And then Mickey turns up! Mickey the bloody idiot...

The Doctor eyes widened. Maybe he was jealous...He scoffed. He wasn't jealous, was he? What did jealously actually feel like? No, he wasn't jealous. He couldn't be. If he were jealous then it definitely would be because of Mickey the Idiot. No, he wasn't jealous, couldn't be. It was impossible.

He looked over at Rose again...why was she staring?

"What?" He asked.

She slapped him playfully on the arm, "Do you ever listen?"

He shrugged, "Uh..." She slapped him on the arm again, "Oi! What was that one for?"

"For proving you don't listen."

"Then what was the first one for?"

"For not listening." She grinned.

He nodded, "Right..."

"I have to listen to you ramble on all the time so it's only fair you listen to me."

He raised a finger, "Ah but you don't listen all the time. Do you Rose?"

Her cheeks flushed red, "Of course I do."

"Oh really?" A grin fell on his face, "Then name three things about the planet Dracora."

She bit her lip and he grinned. There was no chance she was listening to him then. Not one hope in Gallifrey that she had been listening. Or maybe she had. He almost laughed at the thought. One day she would listen to his ramblings and then he'd...well, he didn't really know hat would happen, but maybe she'd listen to his rambles in the future.

"Uh," She frowned, "Well, it's blue."

"That's an observation. If you can tell me why it's blue then you'd have been listening to my explanation."

"It's blue because..." She thought back with all her might. What had he been saying that day? Maybe she should listen to him...why was the planet blue? It was something to do with the...the...something or other. She looked at his gloating face and decided that she might as well guess, "Because of the water?"

His face fell in disappointment, "Oh." She had gotten it right. Damn, she had been listening. Oh wait, that was a good thing. He smiled, "You got it right."

She shrugged, secretly delighted she had gotten away with guessing, "Of course I got it right. I told you I was listening."

"Ok then what else did I say?"

She groaned to herself and let out a sigh. There wasn't a chance she could name two more things, "Fine I don't remember. Happy?"

"I knew it!" He coughed, "I mean, Rose how could you not listen to-"

"Hold on, you know I don't listen." She smiled as realisation suddenly fell upon her, "Then why do you always ramble about a planet if you know I don't always listen."

"Because..." He looked around, hoping the answer would appear before him, "I was...uh, hoping one day you would listen?"

"You liar!"

"Rose how dare you call me a-"

She interrupted again, "You just like listening to the sound of your voice!"

"I do not!" She raised an eyebrow. He sighed, "Fine I do, but Rose the sound of my voice it's...well, to be honest isn't it brilliant? I mean listen to how I pronunciate my words. You've got to admit I do it brilliantly. Don't you love how I pronunciate?" He looked up to the sky in thought, "Isn't the word 'pronuciate' such a good word? Pronunciate. Pro-nun-ci-ate. Prooooooooo- nun- ci-" Rose tapped his arm and he looked at her before looking down like a small child caught doing something wrong, "Sorry." He looked up again, "So what were you saying before?"

She gave him one final look before continuing, "I was saying that I've walked past Canary Wharf a thousand times back home. I mean my Canary Wharf back in our proper world and I always thought it was just like a bunch of offices or something. Never thought there'd be something called Torchwood in here. What is Torchwood?"

"No idea. Let's go find out!"

He stuck out his hand, waggling his fingers. She laughed and took it and hand in hand they walked into Torchwood.

To be continued...

**AN: lol...come on I can't be the only one who thinks the Doctor likes the sound of his own voice. Well, I'm thinking of bringing in a kiss (betweent who I'll let you guess) within the next few chapters. Should I? Well, anyway review if you enjoyed or if you want a kiss or if you like cheese...(Just curious to who likes cheese. No real reason for asking) lol...**


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: Yes, big giant apologies are in order...from me of course, unless there is somethign I don't know about that you want to apologise for...just kidding. Anyway, I've been dealing with coursework, homework, schoolwork - basically everthing to do with the hellhole (My affectionate name for my school). I'm still being swampoed under by it, but I finally amnaged to get a few hours free to write and here is a new chapter so enjoy...**

It was a strange feeling as they made her way through the entrance, almost as if it were forbidden territory. Everything seemed normal enough but to Rose and the Doctor, something seemed…off.

The girl at the desk had seemed false, part of a world the duo knew they didn't belong to and in all honesty didn't even want to belong to. It seemed strange to Rose that this was the place Mickey worked. This was now Mickey's home…this was Mickey's job. Mickey – her Mickey – working in an office with suits. Mickey actually wearing a suit…it was unheard of. She couldn't wait to laugh at him about it after she hugged him to death first.

"Mr. Smith has just gotten back to his office. He will see you in a few minutes. Any chance you might be more forthcoming with your names?"

"Oh, we're just old friends," commented Rose, "In town for a surprise visit."

The receptionist nodded curtly, "If you'd like to wait, feel free to take a seat or have some refreshments in the lobby."

The Doctor and Rose took that as their cue to step away from the receptionist area and into the white washed walls of the waiting room. Neither one of them sat down; neither one of them said anything; neither one of them chose to comment on the odd pictures of aliens on the walls. At least they thought they were meant to be aliens…it was difficult to make sense of the whole picture when it one second looked like something before it changed before their eyes into blobs of paint.

"This place is giving me the heebie geebies." The Doctor whispered in her ear after a few minutes of silence. He accompanied his statement with a dramatic shudder, which prompted Rose to giggle.

She raised an eyebrow, "Heebie geebies?"

"Yes, Rose the heebie geebies. Great phrase that it. Don't you think it's a great phrase?" She shrugged, "Well, I think it's a great phrase. I mean if you think about where the phrase 'heebie geebies' came from - why are you looking at me like that?"

Rose smirked, moulding her face into a mask of innocence, "Like what?"

"Like you're going to do something or say something or-"

"So, let me get this straight, in the near future I am going to do or say something?"

"Yes!" He cried, "Wait, no, I mean well you are going to say something seeing as you already just said something and obviously you're going to do a lot of things. I mean right now, you could think you're doing nothing but really you are doing a lot of things - A _lot _of things Rose. You are breathing, blinking, standing beside me, hearing me talk, looking at me, smiling at me – have you noticed that a lot of things you do involve me?"

Rose shook her head at the absurdity of the man in front of her. How had she ever found herself in this life with him? He bombarded into her life, making everything brighter and happier and…stranger, if she chose to be honest and she knew that she wouldn't have changed one second of it.

She took a step towards him. He took a step back, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing,"

She stepped forward again and once again he quickly took a step back, "No really what are you doing?"

"I told you, nothing." She smirked wickedly at him, advancing towards him.

"Rose, I really think you should stop that."

His back hit the wall, and her smiled widened at the knowledge he wasn't going anywhere. She placed a hand on his cheek, leaned up and pressed her lips against his. He found himself too shocked to respond to her sudden kiss and by the time he realised what was going on, she had pulled away.

"I really wanted to do that." She muttered.

"Well, I really wanted to do this." His calloused hands grabbed her face and he pressed his lips on hers, placing as much of himself into the kiss as possible. He smirked against her mouth when he felt her respond.

A loud cough interrupted the moment. The broke apart, smoothing out their clothes, which had somehow managed to get ruffled in their kiss.

"Mr. Smith will see you now."

Rose coughed out a thank you, a blush now apparent on her cheeks. She asked for directions to Mickey's office, trying to avoid eye contact with the Doctor for fear of bursting out laughing.

When they finally made it to Mickey's office, they hesitated. "It's so weird." Rose commented, staring at the plaque on the wall.

"What? That Mickey has an important job? I know; it's like the end of the world." Rose swotted him on the chest, "What then? The fact he has a plaque with 'Mr Smith' on his door. I mean that makes you just want to burst out laughing. Mickey the idiot with a desk position."

"Stop it!" she warned him.

"Ok, let's go in…unless you want to head back to the Tardis which is fine, if that's what you want." He subtly suggested.

There would be nothing more he would like to do than leave and head back to the Tardis. Maybe lie down and have a rest after they got out of this parallel world. He didn't even know how it was possible but he would have to inspect everything to find out how crossing the void and receiving no damage at all to his ship had come about, but he'd rest before he did the full inspection. He was tired; completely and utterly drained and he didn't know why. His head still ached and…

There was definitely nothing more comforting than the thought of home.

"No, we can't leave." Rose nodded, trying to prepare herself, " We should go in."

So much for going home, thought the Doctor.

She opened the door, and a smile lit up her face, "Mickey…"

To be continued...

**AN: So, reviee if you enjoyed or are just glad with the knowledge that I am still alive...**


	18. Chapter 18

**AN:Thanks for everyone who has reviewed so far. Unfortunitely I'm going to have to put all my stories on temporary hiatus...I know, annoying or what but I lost my damn USB again. The only reason you're getting this chapter is because I had uploaded it before I lost the USB pen. The only problem is I seem to be suffering from some memory loss...no, I don't mean, 'Oh where have I misplaced my pen?' I mean actually memory loss. I remember putting my USB pen in my pocket and walkking out of school last Friday and up until 2am, I've no recollection of what happened in between...it's kind of freaky. Ok, I'm getting off topic. So sometime during my memory loss, I lost my USB pen and now I need to get a new one before I can post again. If it's any concellation, I am writing a brand new story. I've already got a few chapters written so far at home. Yes, considering I've got way too many stories to update so far, why in hell am I posting up another one? The reason I am is because I'm not going to post a chapter until it is finished. It's my new goal...actually finish a story before I post it. lol...I've never done that before. Ok, so once again, I'll try to get a new USB asap and another chapter of all my stories will hopefully follow so please content yourselves with this chapter for the timebeing. Now, on with the story...**

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_She opened the door, and a smile lit up her face, "Mickey…"_

If there was one face the Doctor wished he would never have to see again, it would have to be that of Mickey Smith but even as he stood their watching Rose stare in disbelief at the man, he couldn't help but be glad – ever so slightly of course – to see the man, but only ever so slightly.

His gaze moved slowly between the shocked Rose and to Mickey, whose face matched Rose's in shock. It was at this point the Doctor decided he needed to break the tension.

"So," he began, his voice laced with an unenthusiastic chipper quality, "I guess you weren't told of our arrival."

"How-but what-" Mickey's apparent struggle for words pleased the Doctor; it reminded him of all the time (and there were many) that he had promptly described him as 'Mickey the Idiot'.

"So Mick-Mick-Mick-Mickey the Idiot! Good to see you!" He stepped forward, punching him lightly on the shoulder.

"Ow!" Mickey yelped rubbing his sore arm.

"Sorry." He absentmindedly replied as he cast his gaze over the office, "Well, look at you. Nice digs…" He turned towards Rose, "Hey Rose, you ever wondered why people always say that? Nice digs? Why would you call it digs? I don't get that…why do you think-" He promptly noticed she wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention as her gaze seemed almost glued to Mickey, "Well anyway, never mind, moving on…so how'd you become a suit. I wouldn't have imagined seeing you in a suit. If I'm honest, I don't think that one suits you much."

"I don't wear suits everyday," he mumbled, still looking at Rose, "I was at a funeral earlier…"

"Oh sorry…"

"They mentioned something about Jake…earlier on the phone…is he alright?" The Doctor turned in surprise. Those were the first words out of her mouth after that length of silence…"They weren't really clear. Are you alright?"

Mickey nodded, his face solemn – a look rarely accustomed to someone like Mickey –as he spoke almost guiltily, "Jake's…alive. He got possessed by a Xienex."

"Oh that's a nasty lot." The Doctor exclaimed. Sensing this wasn't the opportune time to give his opinion he decided that it would be best for all if he remained quiet, "Sorry, carry on."

"Well, uh, he got possessed and he…killed a fellow team member. She died. It was her funeral I was at."

Rose stepped forward, moving closer to Mickey, "Oh Mickey, I'm so sorry."

"It happens…" He kept his gaze to the floor for a moment, "How did you two get here? You-" He pointed at the Doctor, "-said it was impossible."

"It is...well, it's meant to be."

"We just landed here Mickey. The Tardis wasn't even damaged…"

"So does that mean travel between parallel universes is possible?"

Rose was about to say something but was but off when the Doctor abruptly said, "No."

"But then how-"

"I don't know, and that's…" He trailed away, losing his eyes as a particularly sharp pain registered in his head.

Rose stepped forward, away from Mickey, "Doctor?"

He opened hi eyes again; the world swam back into vision and Rose's concerned face stuck out at him, "Sorry, I was just thinking…" He needed to change the subject. Drawing attention to his headache would no one any good, "How did you deal with Xienex?"

"What?"

"The Xienex? They don't usually travel solo so I'm presuming you had a full blown invasion." Mickey's face fell, and the Doctor realised that what he had just said wasn't the most reassuring thing, "Oh…"

"We picked up a signal for a one. We followed it to a run down building and…well, it possessed Jake and killed…he killed Katie. We captured it-"

"You did what?" The Doctor proclaimed, "How?"

"Maybe it would be better if you saw…"

Possibilities of how they had captured the Xienex ran through his mind. Each one seemed less humane than the previous and considering that species was a tricky one to capture…well, either they had been on the verge of killing it when they captured it or it…no, it wouldn't have…no no no no, maybe…could it have let them capture it?

Neither possibility seemed to be better than the other but if the latter was true then that was most definitely not good. That would be very very bad in fact, painstakingly bad, catastrophic bad…end-of-the-world bad.

"I think it's better if I did. Lead on…" He stated and as an after thought added, even though it made him laugh on the inside, "Mr Smith."

To be continued...

**AN: It's a bit short. Sorry, it'll be longer next chapter. Promise. Review if you enjoyed...and once again, apologize for losing my USB pen. Hopefully I can get a new one soon...**


	19. Chapter 19

**AN: Ok, here I am again. Merry Christmas to everyone and once agaihn I apologize for the delay on my stories. Anyway, on with the story...**

**Chapter 19**

The Doctor frowned in annoyance.

He had tried to ignore the looks of disbelief and pure euphoria that Rose and Mickey shared as they walked, but with each passing moment it was getting more and more difficult to remain silent, to give them their moment of reunion. They deserved that at least, they had never thought they would see the other again. The least he could do was to give them their moment, but that didn't make things any easier.

Frequently he had to resist the urge to reach out and grab her by the hand, mark his territory…not that Rose was owned by him, nor did he ever have to point out that she was more interested in a Time Lord than Mickey the Idiot…but things had hanged, and this time she was his, wasn't she? Was he hers? Or was Mickey going to disrupt that? She had missed him, cried for his loss and never expected to see him again. What if some unknown feeling crept up on her, stronger than what he felt for her or what he had thought she had felt for him?

The Doctor almost breathed a sigh of relief when Mickey announced they had made it to the cell but then remembered why they were here and that inside the room there would be prisoners – all alien.

When the door opened, his jaw slacked momentarily and as his eyes glazed over the room, taking in its vastness, he found himself stepping back as if recoiled by anger and disgust.

He shook away Rose's arm, who seeing him in distress had went over to him. He held his arms out in front of him holding on to the wall in an attempt to keep him upright and closed his eyes; trying to rid the giant prison his eyes had been privy to seeing only seconds before.

Yet he knew, he would not be able to block them out from his mind. Nor would he be able to stop himself from hearing each separate heartbeat thumping in his ears, contributing to the headache that was once again washing over him. He could vaguely hear Rose arguing with Mickey; he almost smile at the thought but found that he could not find the energy to do so.

He straightened his back, pushing himself away from the wall and towards Mickey that Rose, who had once again placed her hand against his arm nearly, toppled backwards at the sudden movement. She righted herself quickly in time to find the Doctor walking purposefully up to Mickey who took a few steps back at the fury in the Time Lord's face.

The Doctor stopped inches away from Mickey and stared, watching, as the man in front of him grew more and more uncomfortable with each passing second under his glare.

"You do that to them." The Doctor whispered, his voice sharp and piercing through the silence that had momentarily existed mere seconds ago, "You lock them up. You don't try to help them. You-"

"They're dangerous!" Mickey protested weakly, "And we try to help those we can but it's not as if all of them are safe to let back out. We do what we can!"

"You do what you can?" he whispered back incredulously, repeating the words to himself as if processing them. A moment passed, "You do what you can!" He was shouting now, anger coursing through him, "Are you really that thick, Mickey? Are you? Do you think that every single one of your…_prisoners_…" The word tasted vile in mouth as he said it, "…are all dangerous? Do you think they don't have homes? Families? They have places to belong and you trapped them here! To do what exactly? Experiment on them? Torture them? I thought you were better than this Mickey, but you really are an idiot!"

"I am not an idiot!" Mickey shouted back, suddenly finding confidence, "You always thought I was the stupid bloody idiot, but what about you? You think you know everything, but you don't? Where do you suggest we put them? Some of those things-" Mickey pointed towards the room- "-are dangerous! You didn't know what they did to my teammates. What they did to Jake? Maybe you should see him before you make your decisions! We do good here. WE do everything we can for the human race."

"And what good is the human race if you're ruled by monsters who lock anything that's just that little bit different up. What about me? Surely it must be Torchwood policy to lock me up too?" The Doctor brought his hands together in front of him as if he were about to be handcuffed, "Well come on then! Tie me up, put me in one of your cells and throw away the key."

Mickey, unable to form a reply, simply stared at the Doctor who in return glared at the idiot in front of him.

"Doctor." Rose spoke from behind him. He didn't turn nor did he reply, "We should go see this -what was it Mickey? - Xienex?"

"Yeah, Xienex."

"Come on, we can do this later. Doctor, we need to help Jake." The Doctor hearing the desperation in Rose's voice – although not apparent to the untrained ear- reluctantly pulled his gaze away from Mickey's but not before throwing him one last look of shame. A look, which made Mickey wince.

"Just follow me." He muttered, unable to stand being the object of the Doctor's fury.

The Doctor tried not to look into the cells as Mickey led the way. He felt Rose give his hand a reassuring squeeze but he did not feel like returning it, instead focusing his eyes in front of him as if Mickey's suit jacket might catch on fire at any moment. Not that he would be the one to put it out if it did.

Finally the trio came to a stop. Mickey, still unwilling to look at the Doctor, turned his head to Rose as he addressed them, "It's in here."

"Get it open then." The Doctor ordered.

"I need to warn you."

"What? That you've chained it to the wall? That it's not going to be happy with people because it's locked up and thousands of miles away from home, trapped on a planet filled with strange things who have no idea what they are dealing with."

"No." Mickey replied patiently, "Don't touch it! Don't let it even within a foot of you! It's fast. It doesn't always need to touch to pass through a person. We had to lock it up so it couldn't hurt anyone else. You can go in, but Rose stays here."

"What?" Her head turned to face him in shock, "I'm not staying out here."

"You're staying here Rose." The Doctor agreed, "It's not safe. If he's right then you would be at risk and I won't let anything happen to you. Firstly because your mother would kill me." He gave her a smile and as she was about to protest, he turned to talk to Mickey, "Anything else?"

"Once you're in there, we won't be able to open the door for five minutes – safety precaution – so don't try anything stupid or we won't be able to get to you."

"How will you know if I do anything stupid?" Mickey nodded his head towards the screen behind the Doctor who turned and replied, "Oh right."

"From what we can tell it seems to work by manipulating emotions in order to get people closer so watch out for that too."

"Right, allonsy then. Open it up."

Mickey, after pressing a series of buttons and placing fingertips against shimmering screens, finally opened the door.

"You won't do anything stupid?" Rose asked the Doctor, a hint of fear in her voice, "Will you?"

"ME? Do something stupid? Preposterous! When have I done anything stupid?"

"You got shot just yesterday."

His eyebrows scrunched, "Oh yeah, but that was not my fault. My back was turned at the time."

"Just…" She grabbed his hand, unable to meet his gaze, "Don't do something stupid. I don't want to see you…hurt. Or half-dead. Or unconscious. You nearly scared the life out of me last time. Don't make me have to go trough that again. Please. Just be…"

"Careful. I know. I will." The Doctor gave Rose's hand a squeeze before he disappeared into the dark room. The door slammed shut and he found himself facing the enemy.

To be continued...

**AN: I haven't done any Doctor Who fiction in ages so if this is OOC then I apologize. Anyway review if you enjoyed...**


	20. Chapter 20

**AN: Ah…I've just noticed that I'm getting less reviews than I used to on all my stories…that is a slightly depressing thought so I shall think no more on it. Well, here's the new chapter anyway.**

It was disconcerting for the Doctor to say the least to gaze upon the creature. He knew the damage this creature could do, but looking at the chains that bound it, his hearts went out for it. This was not right…this would never be right, but there was nothing he could do for it. It was dangerous.

Yet it was a beautiful creature. Pale blue skin that seemed to glow, eyes as deep as the ocean and as pure as then skies of Vensusivan 8; its veins were just visible under speckles of purple which matched – what the Doctor could only presume to call – its hair. There was no way to tell if it were male or female, no predominant features of any sort that could possibly give any indication of gender, at least to the Doctor's eyes. Although it was humanoid in shape, it bared certain similarities to a fish, especially with the webbed hands and feet.

"Oh, you are beautiful." The Doctor concluded, as his eyes trailed over the creature, "Dangerous but beautiful. Reminds me of a girl I once knew…no, hold on that wasn't a girl…never did find out what that was." The creature stared blankly at him, so the Doctor elaborated, "It tried to kill me then nicked my time hopper. I had to walk all the way back to the Tardis over sharp stones barefoot. Talk about sore feet." The Doctor could sense that the creature didn't really care about his sore feet, but then again nobody did care about his poor neglected feet. Maybe he could get Rose to care…she did seem to respond well to kissing. He shook his head, trying to ignore his sidetracked thoughts.

He turned back to the creature, "Now just because you're beautiful, that doesn't mean I'm going to go near you. I do realise what you can do…well, I do have a basic idea and none of it is good so don't think I'm going to be naïve like the rest of them out there when they first met you."

The creature growled at him; the Doctor's interest piqued.

"Do you understand me?" The Doctor asked, hoping it was able to speak. More often than not, they were telepathic creatures but the odd one was capable of speech and if this were not part of a pack then this would be more likely to not speak telepathically.

The creature tilted its head sideways and hissed, long sharp teeth protruding outwards as it did so.

"Oh," The Doctor took a step backward, "Not that friendly, are we?"

The creature narrowed its eyes and the headache the Doctor had been sporting since arriving here suddenly flared painfully. He brought a hand up to his hand, squeezing his eyes shut, as it seemed to pierce at him with a sudden intensity.

"What are you doing?" He managed to growl out at the creature as the pain throbbed and subsided until it became constant and aching.

The creature remained silent, watching him with avid interest.

"Stop it!" he shouted, barely managing to stay upright as the pain seemed to radiate to the point where he felt as if he was being pulled apart, "Stop this now!" he ordered the creature which did nothing but stare at him, "Listen to me, I can help you. I am the only one here who can help you. I can take you back to where you belong, but you have to let me help you. You have to-"

He stopped suddenly as his mind went blank; he was vaguely aware of his knees smashing against the ground but he pain of it was minor compared to that he was already feeling. The pain moved from his head outwards to the tip of his fingers and the bottoms of his toes. Every inch of him screamed in pain; it burned so brightly that he knew he had never felt pain like this before.

He closed his eyes and screamed.

-------

Rose eyes flashed in panic as she took in the Doctor's appearance, "Mickey, look!" she quickly shouted, "It's doing something to him."

She watched as the Doctor's knees suddenly gave way, collapsing harshly against the cold hard ground, "Open the door Mickey!" she screamed as fear enveloped her, it was doing something to the Doctor, "Open the fucking door!"

The Doctor collapsed on the groan, clutching his head.

"I can't!" Mickey replied, tapping desperately at the controls before him, "There's a five minute wait on this!" He explained, "Hold on, I might be able to override it!"

Alarms blared in Rose's ears as Mickey hand's moved quickly over buttons. Her eyes flickered to the screen where she could see the Doctor's mouth open, an agonising scream piercing the air and filling her ears.

"Turn the sound off Rose." Mickey pleaded, "I can't think."

Rose shut off the audio and the Doctor's cry died away, but she could still imagine it in her head – the scream of agony that she had never expected to hear from him. That thing was killing him; it was causing him so much pain and she was powerless to stop it even though every instinct in her mind wanted to do anything to get rid of his pain.

"Hold on, Doctor." She whispered to the screen, hoping he was strong enough for her.

-------

He felt as if the his brain was being crushed; the pain was too intense, too painful for him to comprehend how it was possible how the Xienex was even capable of giving such pain. He had heard of creature being able to torture telepathically, but this- no this was not torture; this was something intensifying pain that had already been there to unbelievable lengths. It was killing him…

He couldn't think anymore; it hurt to think. Hell, it hurt to do anything. Breathing seemed impossible, even the beating of his hearts seemed to make his chest ache. He didn't even have the will to keep his eyes open as red crossed his vision. He was vaguely aware of something dripping from his head accompanied by the dripping at his nose. It took him a moment to contemplate what it was and another few seconds to realise what it must be – blood.

That was not good; actually that was bad, very bad indeed but he couldn't remember why exactly. The pain was too strong, he couldn't even remember why he was in pain, his thoughts were stopping and he didn't mind as long as the pain went away. He would do anything for it to go away, but he couldn't even think of anything he could do which could stop it.

And suddenly he felt as if the world was becoming darker, as if he was becoming a speck of dust being wisped away in the wind because the pain was easing, his heartbeats were slowing, his breathing was becoming shallow…

And then he felt no more.

To be continued...

**AN: Review and you get to find out what happens next...mwuhahaha :) **


	21. Chapter 21

**AN: I was having a little trouble with this chapter as it reminded me a similar situation I wrote in another story, but I wanted to write it out differently so I was kind of trying to ignore it for a while but at 4 in the morning it demanded my attention and like the the writing slave that I am, I answered that pleas of attention and now this chapter was born. If there are spelling mistakes, then I apologize but it is 4 in the morning and...well, need I say more than it's four in the morning? lol...on with the story...**

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Rose felt as if her heart was being squeezed, as if the life was being pulled out of her as she waited on baited breath for Mickey to open the door. She could hear the pounding of her heart as she waited to rush in, she wasn't sure what help she could offer but she needed to stop this even if it meant she herself would be put in danger.

She looked over at the screen and saw blood, she knew it was coming from the Doctor but could not fathom how so much had come about so quickly and from where. Could that thing cause physical damage as well? How was that even possible?

"Mickey!" she shouted urgently.

"It's open!" Mickey shouted in reply, pressing the final button, Rose grabbed at the door handle, rushing in without thought, "Rose! No!"

She didn't pay heed to Mickey, just ran straight in towards the Doctor. Mickey followed her, loading something into a gun. She dropped to her knees, pulling him back, "Oh god," she whispered, feeling blood matt her hands upon contact.

She heard a sharp hiss as something shot out of Mickey's gun and into the creature's neck. The thing head moved groggily before with one last roar, its head flopped forward as the tranquilliser took effect.

Rose felt at his head, feeling his wound. How had it happened? Did he hit his head as he fell? Although that wouldn't explain the nosebleed? Maybe it was something else, inside his head…pressure?

Rose felt at his chest to find it was not moving up and down. She leaned down, placing her head to his chest…no heartbeats. She raised a hand to his mouth…he wasn't breathing.

"Mickey, he's not breathing. His hearts aren't beating either."

Mickey looked away from the creature and down at the Doctor's still form, "What? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" She shook her head, "I'm going to do mouth to mouth, you push down on his hearts. Remember he has two of them!" She moved the Doctor from her lap and laid him down in position.

Mickey remained still in a moment of unease, he had never had to revive anyone before and for a moment he was not the big guy at Torchwood who had fought against aliens, side by side with his colleagues. He was instead just Mickey Smith from the Powell Estate, the guy least likely to do anything with his life that was worthwhile and meaningful, the guy who waited on the sidelines unsure of everything whilst waiting for the girl he loved to try and see that he was better that the man she had ran off with.

But that man was lying practically dead on the floor, the man Mickey had hated for causing so much change in his life, for making him lose Rose, that man…had…well, he had helped him find meaning here, in Torchwood. Sure he had still lost Rose but…he was doing something with his life wasn't he?

And with that thought in mind, Mickey reminded himself that he was better than the man he used to be and although he had never done this before, he had learnt CPR in his training, it hadn't been for a two hearted alien of course, but he could do this. He could do this…couldn't he?

…

Yes, he could do this.

Mickey kneeled beside Rose, placing his hands over the Doctor's chest as he tried to ignore he blood. He had never been good with blood, made him feel queasy. He had been around more blood lately, even if some of it had been a multitude of colours due to the aliens it had been extracted from, but blood – no matter what form or colour it was in – was always something that he didn't like. He was better at ignoring it though, the trick was to focus on other things, such as pressing down one side of the Doctor's chest five times as Rose blew breath into him before repeating the process on the other side.

One, two, three, four, five…

Letting it become a mantra, repeating it again and again as Rose whispered with tears in her eyes, "Don't you dare die on me. Don't you dare give up."

He couldn't quite bring himself to stop, despite having the nagging feeling that maybe the Time Lord's time was finally up. He dismissed the thought, he may not always like the bloke but the Doctor was one of the good guys. He didn't deserve to die, so Mickey focused on his mantra.

One, two, three, four, five…

Rose eyes stung as she breathed into the Doctor, this wasn't meant to happen. He was meant to have just gone in, find out what the creature wanted and get out. He was meant to get hurt, he had said he would be careful, he had told her he would be and now look at where he was. Unconscious of the ground…well, actually practically dead on the ground, if he didn't wake up…well, she wouldn't know what to do…he was her rock…

Another breath and then…nothing.

'He can't die!' Her mind screamed in her head, 'He's the Doctor, he can't die!' Not after everything, not after they had finally been so close to being …whatever the hell they were now. Or what they were meant to be now.

A sharp intake of breath surprised them all.

Mickey's hands stilled in the movement, Rose froze and leaned up to look at the Doctor's face properly.

"Did he just-" Mickey asked.

"I think he did."

The Doctor's eyes were still closed, unmoving and unaware. Rose held a hand just far enough away from his mouth, warm air push against it.

"He's breathing." She sighed in relief, "Oh my god, he's breathing." She turned throwing her arms around Mickey in relief. Taken by surprise, it was a moment before Mickey wrapped his arms around Rose and enjoyed the embrace, knowing it would most likely be the few he would receive in what little time he had with Rose.

Rose leaned back, a smile lighting up her face even though tear tracks were apparent on her face, "I thought I was going to lose him, Mickey."

Mickey nodded, before mumbling quietly, "I'll go get the medics."

"Right…" Rose replied, turning her attention back to the Doctor. Mickey, although happy that the Doctor wasn't dead, couldn't help but feel forgotten as her attention stayed solely focused on the one man that seemed important in her life these days.

With a look of dejection, unnoticed by Rose he turned and quickly hurried to get the medics down here as quick as possible. They were probably on their way anyway, the alarm he had triggered sounding them to assistance being needed immediately. It was probably better to wait for them out here anyway, away from Rose and the Doctor. He would be of more use out here.

"Sir?" He turned at the sound of a familiar voice – he could never remember names but with a quick look at the nametag, he now knew that Peter Jacobs was addressing him. The man ran up to him, "The alarm was triggered."

"Yeah, we need medics down here. We have a, uh, a specialist injured. He was requested by me here to examine the creature and was attacked. We need a separate room for him, and no one but those authorised by me get to examine him or see him."

Peter nodded, before getting out his phone. After seeing what those headsets had done in the past, Mickey couldn't stand the sight of bluetooth headsets anymore. And he wasn't the only one in agreement with him. The whole of Torchwood had reverted back to using mobile phones the way they were intended to be used until something better (and without the bad memories) came along.

Mickey went back inside the room, "They're coming." He said, and Rose looked up relieved.

"They aren't going to do anything to him…you know, because he's…" She trailed off and gave him a look, but he got the message anyway.

"No, I promise."

She smiled, "Thank you Mickey."

For a moment, he thought she was going to say something else, but when she remained silent, he simply replied, "No problem."

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**AN: Now that's over and done with, let's get the Doctor conscious again (hopefully) and maybe even some bedside company telling him off for being an idiot...maybe even a kiss that Mickey walks in on...by the way, I am just listing off ideas here, none of this is concrete for the next chapter. Unless it sounds like a good idea...does it? I'm too sleep deprived to think at the moment. Review if you wish...oh that reminds me, I've gotten myself into fanvidding again. I like to think I am better than I was because I used to be...anyway, I've got a Doctor who vid up over on Youtube. It's ten/rose...well, yeah...I would say it is ten/rose. There's a link to my vid on my profile page if you want to check it out. I rarely comment on my making fanvids but I figured what the hell, might as well...hey that rhymed. Oh god I am sleep deprived if I'm getting interested by rhymes. Ok anyway, review if you wish...**

**Until next time :)**


	22. Chapter 22

**AN: I know, it's been ages but now I am free from the confines of school, exams and coursework so I am back with writing - thank god! School drives me insane. Now, I have free time, now I can finally write, now I can...well, I don't know. What else can I do other than write? Who knows? lol...ok, on with the story...**

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Rose sat beside the Doctor's bedside. He had been given a private suite; provided by Mickey and Pete…although she had yet to meet again with the dad who wasn't really her dad. She knew the conversation would be awkward and after feeling so dejected on their last meeting, she couldn't help but think that this time would be no different.

She turned to look at the Doctor and sighed as she took in his appearance for the umpteenth time. His head was bandaged and a small portion of his head had to be shaved in order for them to find the point of origins for the bleeding in order to stitch it up. She couldn't help but wonder what his reaction to a hairless portion on his head would be when - Rose had no doubts about the ifs but it was a matter of when -exactly he would wake up. She couldn't afford to doubt him, but he sure was taking his time.

It was strange to see him like this. He was the Doctor. He always bounced back and most of the time it was immediately, but this time…was different and she didn't know why. The creature had done something to him, it had to have done something otherwise he wouldn't be like this – unconscious and bandaged and still bleeding…according to the small quantity of blood seeping through his bandages.

She looked away from the small patch of blood feeling queasy. Blood, she could handle, but it was the Doctor's blood this time and this was a serious situation he had gotten himself in. She couldn't help but frown at the irony of the Doctor actually needing a Doctor for once in his life.

She should've stopped him from going in.

"Rose." She looked up at the sound of her name. For a moment, she thought it might have been the Doctor but at one glance she could still see he was unconscious to the world. She turned her head and found Mickey standing by her side. She gave him a weak smile, "Rose, we've ran some tests on him." He indicated to the Doctor with a slight nod of his head.

Rose sat up a little straighter in her seat, "And? Is he going to be alright?"

Mickey frowned, "We can't tell."

"What do you mean you can't tell? Mickey, tell me the truth."

"I am! We can't. Every time we get a reading from him the screen goes blank." He ran a hand over his forehead in frustration, "It doesn't make sense. He's giving off electromagnetic radiation that's affecting our equipment but the creature…" He trailed away in a frown.

"What about the creature?" Rose asked, worry seeping in more to her voice.

He looked her in the eye, "It can't give that stuff off. It's impossible. I don't know about Time Lord physiology or whatever but I'm pretty sure even he can't give that stuff off either."

Rose shook her head, "What does that mean then? If the creature didn't do it then what?"

"Something else had to have done this to him."

"But what exactly is the question?" A third voice said and the duo turned their head in surprise to see the Doctor wide-eyes and…awake?

"Doctor!" They both said at the same time, neither one without shock.

"Hello!" He grinned before grimacing in pain as the movement in pain irritated his head, "Ow, that hurt." He blinked and swung his legs over the bed, "Anyway, the Xienex, I want to see it again."

"Are you insane?" Rose asked, "You nearly just died and you want to see that creature again?"

"To answer your first question, yes." He frowned, "Actually my answer to the second one is also yes so I should've probably said yes once without all the extra baggage. Ah, don't you hate baggage. Makes a mess. All that carrying – annoying or what? Unless we're talking about baggage in speaking terms then it's just ramble, ramble, ramble and then…oh wait, I like rambling so I take that back. Baggage is great."

"Ok, he is insane." Mickey muttered to himself, before addressing the Doctor, "You just woke up. Don't you think you should listen to her and take it easy for a little while."

"Ah, I can take it easy later. Aren't you curious as to what happened to me because I can tell you I sure am! So let's go find out what happened to me." He attempted to stand but his legs shook for a moment and he suddenly found himself sitting once again on the bed, "Right, that didn't go well."

"Which just proves you need to rest." Mickey pointed out.

"A little bit of vertigo didn't hurt anyone. It'll pass. I've had my legs all lying down for hours and I stood up took quickly hence the vertigo – that's all. So I just need a minute to get my bearing and my legs will be as dandy as…well, as dandy as something else with legs. Let's say as dandy as Andy. I don't know who Andy is but his legs are sure to be dandy…seeing as he's Andy."

Rose raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure your all right?"

"Me? I'm always alright." Rose gave him a pointed look at his choice of phrase, "…for someone whose head hurt…a lot…a while ago…" Rose was still giving him the look, "…but now I'm fine?" Her facial expression still hadn't changed and the Doctor felt uneasy under her glare, "Can you stop looking at me like that? I'm fine!" He stood up, "See," he said indicating the fact he had not fallen back on the bed this time, "Fine!"

"If you get yourself hurt one more time today, then…" Rose thought for a moment, "I'll set my mother on you." She warned. There wasn't much else save for Daleks that the Doctor feared but a Tyler slap sure was one of them.

"Now Rose, don't be rash. We both know that one day your mother will be the death of me, but do you really want to her to rid the world of my beautiful face." He grinned at her, "See, you can't deny it." He turned to Mickey, "She can't deny it."

"I don't think you're giving her the chance to." Mickey muttered out of Rose's earshot."

"And that's the trick." He moved towards the door, "Let's go." Suddenly he looked down, "Where's my suit went to?"

"It's over there. Rose insisted on getting it cleaned."

"IT was covered in blood and I knew you'd whine once you woke up and found it in that state."

"Well, off you go. I need to get changed, wouldn't want you looking now would we?" He gave Rose a wink. After a moment, he scratched at his chest, which was clad in a hospital garment, "These things sure do itch."

Rose stared at him, reluctant to see him alone in case he fell back into unconsciousness. She could barely believe he was awake at this moment, but miraculously he was. "Fine, but don't be long." She motioned to the door; "We'll just be out here if you need help."

"I am not a child Rose." He assured her, "I've been able to dress for many many years; over 900 years in fact. I do believe I have the hang of it by now."

"I never seen you in anything other than that suit." Mickey said, "You could be wearing the same thing every day and we'd never know."

"I do wash, I'll have you know. Cleanliness is very important, didn't anyone ever tell you that?" He grinned again, "Now off you go. You'll just be out there. I get it. I'll be out in a minute."

They left him and once they were safely outside, the Doctor leaned against the bed. He took a deep breath, working through the pain that still radiated from his head, lessened from before but still a dominant factor. He needed to figure out what was wrong soon and to do that he had to go back to where his pain had suddenly intensified. There had to be something about the creature that had evoked whatever pain was already there.

And he was going to find out before whatever was wrong killed him.

**AN: I'm not sure if that counted as a cliffhanger. I'm really trying hard to lessen my use of cliffhangers. Anyway, regular updates will now continued from here on and remember a review makes me smile...don't you want to make the review-deprived addict I have now become smile?**


	23. Chapter 23

**AN: Well, I've just officially messed up my sleeping patterns ONCE AGAIN. I also have to reaudition for choir tomorrow...if I didn't think he'd pester me to join again all next year, I might not bother but might as well save myself the hassle. I also haven't been happy with my writing lately...it's very frustrating. Don't know why I'm bothering you with my random problems, so I'll cut to the chase and give you this brand new chapter.**

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The Doctor surveyed the room; it was strange to think that he had collapsed mere hours ago in this very spot. He looked down at the shade of red that now marred the once clean floor, looking at the crimson stain did not bring any comfort or relief, but it did give perspective.

He couldn't help but notice that Rose's eyes did not linger on the red of the floor and she was intently focused on the walls, the ceilings, the chains – where the Xienex once was held to – the lighting fixtures, anything but the floor.

And that made him feel guilty for how fearful of his life she must have been.

He pushed away the thought with a sigh, and went back to studying the scarce articles the room had to offer but found that there was nothing to explain what had happened.

"I've got nothing. Nope, there isn't anything to explain what happened here." He finally said, drawing the attention back to him,

"That proves that the thing had something to do with it then." Mickey concluded, "But the electromagnetic radiation you're giving off – I have no idea how that's even possible-"

"I'm a Time Lord, everything's possible with us." The Doctor interrupted, "Go on."

Mickey took a breath, "It suggests something else is causing this apart from the creature."

"A suggestion I agree with." The Doctor began to pace back and forth, "But the question is what? If Torchwood are as secure as you make yourselves out to be, the security would have noticed if your captives-" He threw Mickey a glare, still seething at the amount of species being locked up, "-had escaped or if something had entered the building that it isn't supposed to be here. That suggests that I must have been something I've been in contact with is causing this."

"The Xienex is something you've been in contact with." Mickey replied.

"I know…but you've said so yourself, it can't have done this."

Rose stared between the two men as she thought. There had to be a possibility that something had done this. It wasn't everyday after all that your head decided to crack open. She eyed the Doctor's bandage and noticed he was fiddling with it again, "Stop touching them." She warned him.

He threw her an innocent look, "But they itch!" He whined, imitating a child for a moment. He already was a big child half the time as far as she was concerned.

"Keep them on." came her reply. She hoped he would. He had not suspected that a slightly large portion of his hair was no longer there and as long as the bandaged stayed on for the meanwhile, it meant he wouldn't have to find out. She silently dreaded his reaction when his bandages would have to be changed later.

She thought back to how something could have happened as the Doctor and Mickey began to argue about Torchwood's security.

There had to be some possibility, which would explain this. Maybe the Xienex could be the cause of this…no, the Doctor was intelligent enough to know the species well. Maybe there was equipment in Torchwood was being affected by something else and it wasn't the Doctor giving off the electro…whatever it was. Yet that seemed unlikely seeing as when the Doctor went past anything electric at the moment, a buzzing noise seemed to emanate from the electrical device.

'What if-' Rose stilled.

"Oh whoop-de-do, you're Torchwood. Mickey, let me tell you that simply because you're a big organisation hording aliens in like-

"We are protecting people!" Mickey insisted.

"Protecting humans! What about those aliens? Huh?" The Doctor smiled smugly down, "Are you protecting them?"

"It's not our jobs to. We can't be sure if they pose a threat! We also can't let them go free if they have no way of returning to their planet." Mickey shot back.

"And you haven't thought to-"

Rose interrupted, "What if you got in from before you came into Torchwood?"

The two men looked at her, "What?" Asked Mickey.

She turned to the Doctor, "What if it wasn't something you got in Torchwood? What if it came from before we landed? What if you already had it before entering Torchwood?"

The Doctor face scrunched up. He would've noticed if something had been wrong beforehand. He wasn't dismissive of things, in fact he noticed a lot more than people realised he did, but surely he would have noticed if something had occurred beforehand. And other than the headache, which he was sure had been caused by the concussion he got, there was nothing out of the ordinary, save for landing in a parallel world – the Tardis unharmed – and kissing Rose excessively.

Other than that…no, there was nothing out of the ordinary…but it was a possibility. It made more sense than the other possibilities.

"You brilliant human." He announced after a moment, a large grin overtaking his face, "I always say your lot are a smart bunch but you take the cream of the crop…" His face went confused once more, "What does cream of the crop even mean? Do you know-" He took a look at Rose's and Mickey's faces and decided he would enquire about the phrase another time, "Never mind, where was I? Oh yes, what a brilliant possibility. Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because you're an idiot." Mickey suggested.

"No, my friend, you have that title." He said jokingly, "That's why they…well, I call you Mickey the Idiot."

"The important thing is that we have a possibility. Now, what external thing exactly caused this is a big mystery, but if I did get this before I came into Torchwood then there must be a reason why the Xienex set it off."

Rose sighed as reality dawned on her. She knew what he was about to suggest, and she silently prayed that she was wrong in her assumption, but the look in his eyes told her otherwise, "You're going to see the Xienex, aren't you?"

"Yes, yes I am." He smiled, "This is why you know me so well."

That was unlikely. She barely felt like she knew him most of the time. He was so secretive and kept his past a secret that she dared not ask in fear of what devastation might be held in it.

"What if sets this off again? What if this time it kills you?"

"It won't." The Doctor simply said, as if stating an irrefutable fact.

"It could." She insisted, "Are you really going to risk that?"

"Yes." He exclaimed, "I have to know. I can't fix whatever this is if I don't know what caused it in the first place."

"If you leave it alone you'll get well. You won't have to fix anything if you simply let yourself heal."

The Doctor sighed. He wanted to tell her that he had to do this because there was no other way; that he wouldn't just simply get better, the persistent throbbing in his head gave light to that fact. He wanted to go off and say that everything would be fine, to forget the matter but he couldn't. Even if he weren't ill, his curiosity would get the better of him.

The simple truth was he was not getting better, he would not get better on his own, and the only way he could get better was to find out what was wrong in the first place and he needed the Xienex for that.

And he needed a way to tell Rose that without worrying her too much or divulging that his head was giving off more pain that he dared admit to.

"Rose, we know that's not true." Her face shadowed shock, "I'm giving off an electromagnetic pulse. That's not normal for a Time Lord. That's not normal at all. We can't leave in the Tardis if I don't get rid of this so I need to find out what's going on before I can get rid of it." She looked at him, on the verge of saying something but he couldn't let her. He turned to Mickey, "Now, take me to the Xienex."

To be continued...

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**AN: There is a button at the end of every story...well, chapter...that gives you - yes, YOU - the opportunity to review. Use this information as you feel free to. :D**


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